Duo Maxwell, Gun for Hire
by NightingaleRose
Summary: Duo's just been hired for a job. He gets to babysit a city full of vampires and try to survive the year.Not as easy as it sounds. GW xover. eventual 1x2 3x4x5. Also AU.
1. Into the City of Twilight we go

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or anything WOD related. Most of the OCs are my own creation or the creation of friends.

So enjoy

**xxxx**

You know sometimes my life sucks. I mean, think about this. I go around killing things that shouldn't exist, raising the dead and being an around nice guy until someone pisses me off. Then it's level a gun at the poor schmucks face with a big ole shit eating grin and hope they get the hint.

Of course there are the nights when the poor bastard on the other end of the gun doesn't get the hint and then I get to see how many points the blood splatter on the wall is worth. It's double points if I manage to make it looks like some sort of animal shape.

That's my life on a day-to-day basis. Someone once asked me 'What's my home life like?' I answered by pointing to my car and responding. 'Like that.' Needless to say, they never asked that question again.

So that leads me to my newest destination. I was on my way to a place I've never heard of before, located somewhere in the Midwest of the United States. This isolated little city was called Twilight. I thought it was a weird name for a small city. My employer disagrees. He said it described the place perfectly.

Which brings me to another odd topic to rant on during this little internal monologue. My employer was/is some guy name Treize Kushrenada of clan Ventrue. The aristocratic bastard tried to hide from me that he was a couple hundred-year-old vampire. I set him straight on that one real quick.

No fang-face was gonna try and trick me when I can tell them exactly what they are, what clan they are and how old they are by a mere taste of their aura. I do my job and just wanted to be left alone. After a bit he accepted that and then hired me to help settle in a city of his.

What do I look like, a baby sitter? Apparently so, of course, there's a nice sum of money in it for me, if I live through the next year.

Yeah, that's me, Duo Maxwell, gun for hire, only living necromancer, and now baby sitter.

**xxxx**

Twilight City. A quiet little town where all the houses look nearly the same with a business district and a lakeside view.

Luckily, this little slice of suburbia heaven had cheap hotels just outside of town. Sure there were bigger, nicer places to check into, but cheaper is better for a long haul. Maybe I'll find a small apartment in a week or so.

As for right now, its check out the city time.

Various storefronts lined the quaint little business district of the City. There is every kind of store from clothing stores to a porn shop. No back alley dealings here.

There was a small little coffee shop on the main stretch called Dawn's Daybreak Cafe. I should know, I'm sitting there right now drinking something called an 'Irish Crème Brownie Delight'. I think it's some sort of hot chocolate mix, not quite sure. All I know is its taking care of my needed chocolate fix.

I sat there, watching people pass by acting out their daily lives. What can I say, people watching is a hobby of mine. I gave up trying to live a normal life years ago. Besides, sometimes, the simplest observations can save your life.

A young, casually dressed woman with long light brown hair slid into the seat next to me. Her brown eyes peered out at me from behind her glasses before she glanced around. Like a switch being flipped, this woman went from looking like an apprehensive girl approaching a cute guy to a straight backed, no nonsense woman.

She gave me a critical once over before she placed an envelope sealed with the Ventrue clan crest of a royal scepter at my fingertips.

"My master thought it prudent for you to show up to Elysium tonight and meet the kindred of the city. Please arrive on time; Mr. Treize has given me the privilege of presenting you to the prince, privately of course." Her eyes remained trained on me as I quickly opened the letter and read it.

If I didn't think Treize was a couple hundred years old before, I do now. Who the hell else would use parchment still? And if I'm not mistaken, this letter was written with a quill and ink. So seventeenth century.

I grumbled softly as I blew a portion of my long bangs out of my face. "Yeah, I'll be there, right at sunset." I shook my head and pocketed the letter. "Not like it would matter if I'm late, kindred don't usually start showing up till around 10:30, 11-ish."

She gave me a calculating look. I knew I had her wondering how I knew that. Just wait for it…

"And how would you know that Mr. Maxwell?"

Go curiosity. "I just do." I gave her a rendition of my best 'trust me' smile.

She gave me a sour look and decided to get up. "Regardless, I will be waiting for you at sundown Mr. Maxwell. Good Day." Again, it was like a switch flipped and she was this shy, quiet little girl making her way out of the Café.

So it looks like I get to sit in a room with a bunch of undead blood drinkers tonight. That's sooner then I would have liked. Why can't people move at my pace for once and let me deal with them when I want to?

**xxxx**

Sunset. Well, I have to admit; they chose an interesting place for Elysium. It was a two-story nightclub that seems to be on permante renovations. The name of the joint, from what I could make out on the half finished sign, was Marie's Double. Wonder what the Double stands for.

The back alley seemed less appealing in the dying light than it did in broad daylight. Unfortunately, I was supposed to meet Treize's pet by the loading dock entrance.

"You're late Mr. Maxwell."

I looked up, my head tilted to the side with a grin plastered on my face. "Not by much. Just five minutes. What can I say, traffic was murder."

She gave me a stern look. The woman wasn't dressed casually like before. She seemed to be wearing some sort of military uniform with her hair in braided pigtails that were tied into matching buns on each side of her head. I couldn't place the military uniform, but it seemed old to me. She tapped her foot as one hand rested on her hip, the other hanging loosely at her side. She meant business.

I gave her a charming smile as I pushed up my sunglasses and made my way up the steps to the loading dock. "Since we've established that you know my name, how about you give me yours. I can't go around calling you Treize's henchwoman, now can I?"

The woman adjusted her glasses with the hand that had been at her side. "Lady Une."

"One huh? How original." I couldn't help it, the fact that she was named after a number amused me, all we needed were 3- 10 and we'd have a whole set.

"As if being named after two is any better."

I shrugged. Hey, at least she was observant.

"Touché. So now what?" I glanced around, my long braid dancing slightly behind me.

"We wait."

I sighed and leaned against the doorway. "Out here? Don't know if you noticed Lady, but it's cold out here. I wouldn't mind going inside."

The moment I finished that sentence, my prayers had been answered. The door next to me opened up and a woman with what I could only describe as dark purplish-black hair covering part of her face stepped out. She seemed more relaxed than the Lady and gave me a welcoming smile. I could tell right away she was a ghoul for someone powerful.

I amusingly noted she wore the same type of military uniform, only in black opposed to the Lady's red. Different ranks maybe? Who knew, I sure didn't.

"Welcome Lady Une, Treize already informed the Prince that you'd be bringing Mr. Maxwell here in for the night."

The Lady nodded as she glanced at me. Gee don't I feel loved. " I wouldn't expect anything less from his Excellency."

The new girl chuckled softly. "I suppose not." She then turned to me. "Welcome to The City of Twilight Mr. Maxwell, I'm Lucrenzia Noin." She gave me a friendly smile, so unlike Lady Une here. "Follow me and I'll bring you to meet the prince."

I couldn't help it, I had to chuckle. "Then by all means, lead the way." We followed her as the tune of 'We're off to see the wizard' played through my head, only replace wizard with fang-face and then you got it.

A few minutes later found me in one of what looked like three offices on the third level of the club. Looks like the two lower levels were a dance floor and bar complete with a DJ booth. Spiffy. All we needed now was some cheesy disco music and we could have a vampire disco. Fun for all undead ages!

The Lady stood a little off to my left at parade rest. That's interesting to note. Maybe that uniform isn't just 'cause her master likes the look. Wouldn't surprise me much.

Noin smiled at me as she stood by the large oak desk in the room. It looked to me like the chair was empty. So we're here, where's the prince? Don't tell me I was told to show up on time and then get stood up. So Unfair! I could be sleeping, or watching TV right now. Or here's an amusing thought, coming up with a survival plan for the rest of the year. Yeah, that sounds about right. Why do I get myself into these things?

I guess sometime during my internal musings, the door opened and in walked our host. It took me a moment for it to register on my Necro-senses. They tingle!

Before I could even get a look at the guy I could already tell that he was a Toreador, 9th Generation and just as old as Treize, a few hundred years give or take. I didn't care to pin point the exact number of years. I normally don't unless someone screams 'Look at me! I'm fucking old!'

Thankfully, that never happens. Well, shit, can't say never. It happened once and I'll be happy to never meet that woman again. Crazy Tzimisce.

"Welcome to the city of Twilight Mr. Maxwell."

I had to do a double take. Yep, he was definitely Toreador material. The guy was a blonde haired, blue eyed, drool worthy, pretty boy.

Now I'm not saying all Toreadors are walking wet dreams, some are just average. This clan prides itself on beauty. Most of the time art, but hey, I've heard of a few exception. Guess it depends on what someone considers art.

I smiled at the blonde haired bishounen sitting behind the desk. "Thanks. I guess it's a no brainier that you're the prince. So care to give me a name to go along with that Toreador pretty face?" Okay, so I flirted a little. I figure life's to short not to.

Blondie gave me an impassive look as he did one of those hand fold number. You know the one where you entwine your fingers together and rest you chin on it while you're propped up on your elbows. Yeah, that number. I noticed that there was a sliver of curiosity in his eyes. Looks like my Toreador comment has him wondering. What? Hasn't he heard of what I can do before? Don't tell me that very one knows my name but not my reputation! Now that just plain sucks ass. Looks like I get to educate people. So, here we go again… wait for it…

"How did you know I was a Toreador Mr. Maxwell?"

Bingo! I'm 2 for 2 already and I haven't even been here 24 hours yet. That's a new record for me.

I answered with a shrug. "It's what I do. So how about that name?" I gave him one of my charming smiles. This one was supposed to convey 'I'm a nice guy and harmless, don't mind me.' Not sure if it did or not though.

Blondie arched one of those delicate blonde eyebrows of his and finally answered my question. "Milliardo Peacecraft."

I nodded my head, still smiling mind you. "Okay then. Hello Milliardo. You already know I was sent by good ole Treize Kushrenada. Now mind filling me in a little? He didn't tell me much other than he required my services and that there was a nice little sum of money if I survive the year."

The Lady seemed to straighten up even more than she already was at the mention of her master's name. Looks to me like she's tightly bound to him and it shows itself with her undying loyalty and devotion. Gag me with a spoon.

Blondie leaned back in his chair and seemed thoughtful for a moment before muttering. "Typical Treize." He shook his head and a ghost of a smile chased its way across his lips. "Well Mr. Maxwell. As you may or may not have heard, this is a recently opened city. As such, it's slightly contested. We have both Camarilla and Sabbat representatives here, along with Independent. So far we have been at peace." He paused there. "I don't think that will last long. Already the three sects have staked their claim. A neutral zone of sorts has been set up. That happens to be this club as it is the over lapping point of all three territories." Another pauses as he leaned forward. "All three leaders have agreed to a truce, with a condition. That condition, Mr. Maxwell, is you."

I couldn't help it. I felt the look of disbelief cross my face. "Me! Why me?" Okay, so I was wrong, my reputation did proceed me, a little to well apparently.

Blondie had the nerve to grin at me as he gave me his reasoning. "Quiet Frankly, we want an outside party to keep everyone in check. We wanted someone who doesn't have affiliations with any side of this contested territory. So we tried to consider all possible candidates that could garner kindred's attention and possible fear. The conclusion was you, Mr. Maxwell."

I guess I looked slightly dazed because Noin decided to lean over and wave a hand in front of my face. "I think you broke him sir."

I shook my head. Okay, I see two possibilities of where this could be going. I'm either the over all prince or whatever of this city, or the make me the boogieman that everyone fears, the scourge.

"So that means what to me?"

"It means Mr. Maxwell, that we want you here. You will be what keep's everyone neutral in Elysium. We want you to be Keeper."

Okay, didn't see that coming. I seriously though scourge. Damn, I'm usually right about these things. Guess there's a first time for everything.

"So let me get this straight, you want me to be a supernatural baby sitter?"

"That's one way of looking at it. However, You will have to deal with all three leaders and their chains of command. I am the head of the camarilla in this city with Treize as my seneschal. Even though I am the prince, there is one above me. She is here merely to observe and to provide fire power if we need it."

I frowned, one above the prince? I didn't like where this was going. I sent out a wave of my power to get a feel for the kindred here. They must of felt something because Blondie straightened up a little. What my magic told me made me curse softly.

Blondie and his ghoulette exchanged looks. I think that they're worried.

**xxxx**

A few hours later found me at a table near the dance floor. After the little meeting, Une escorted me to the main part of the club. The dance floor was littered with tables and chairs. The bar was open for those able to drink. Hell, what am I kidding, they had a tap going for vamps. I guess one of them had access to a blood bank or something.

As for myself, my mood wasn't improving, my little stunt earlier let me know exactly what was in this city and it didn't make me happy. There were at least two vamps that I knew from previous jobs. One was a boogieman for the Cam and the other was a man that was a whispered myth.

Well, okay so not a myth. I've met him. He's just really, really, REALLY creepy.

A small trickle of vamps and ghouls filtered in. I was amused to note the variety. Two Brujah's were stopped at the door and subjected to a full pat down. I was amazed to see what they got off of those two.

The one with green eyes and Brown hair styled to cover half of his face was packing multiple handguns, two shot guns under his trench coat, a large array of throwing knives, a few daggers, what looked to be a small aerosol can and a lighter, and finally an ice pick.

His partner was a lot simpler. This smaller, Chinese guy had on him a katana and a series of throwing knives. That's it. The other guy was over kill compared to this one.

Not far from me sat the two Sabbat leaders. Both blondes. Gee, I see a theme here. The shorter of the two blonds was male with these innocent aquamarine eyes. Don't let that fool you though, the vibes I got off of him screamed Lasombra and powerful, a 10th generation and a survivor.

His companion was female, long blond hair similar to Milliardo's. But this chic had the weirdest eyebrows I've ever scene. Yeah, Treize's was forked, but these were antenna. And just like her partner, she wasn't a laughing matter. She screamed Tzimisce. Just what I needed, another one of those flesh crafters to deal with.

My attention was drawn away from the two pack leaders and to another new arrival. Another Lasombra. Only this one had a Gangrel Body guard. And what a cutie he was. Messy chocolate brown hair, dark Prussian blue eyes, a little taller than me I think, and damn did he look good in the those tight jeans and fishnet shirt. The boy was even wearing a collar. I couldn't help it. I had to send a small wave of power their way.

Well, I was right, the woman was a Lasombra, a 9th generation. I'd say she was somewhere around 3 hundred years old. But what struck me as odd was that the beastie boy wasn't blood bound to her. He was there of his own free will. Huh, I would have guessed blood bonded. Guess I can't always be right.

Ms. Lasombra and Mr. Gangrel headed off into a corner far away from the Sabbat duo. I'm guessing she's the independent leader in this city. Or at least, the one that represents them. Who knows how they have things organized.

Next to catch my attention were a pair of girls that walked in. One couldn't have been older than 18 when she was turned. The girl had these crystal blue eyes and this honey blonde hair that went down to her mid back. Her companion was slightly taller and had this odd dark purplish hair, similar to Noin's. Only. She looked younger, more playful I guess you could say.

The blonde wore a pair of faded, torn jeans and a long sleeve shirt that hid her hands. Around her upper arms and torso were belts. The shirt looked like a straightjacket. I wouldn't surprise me if it were at one point.

The purple haired girl wore a simple t-shirt and jeans.

They tasted of insanity. Both were Malkavian, one more insane than the other.

Seems like this city has all the loonies crawling outta the woodwork.

A few others filtered in, including another Toreador and another Ventrue.

A woman came down from upstairs. She was definitely looked like a Toreador. I'd wager that she was the proprietor of this joint. She walked like she owned this place. Of course, the business suit and the twin ghouls following her around was also a huge tip off. I'm guessing that 'Marie's Double' was named after them.

A few more kindred filtered through, no one of main importance as far as I could see, just a flamboyant gothic Toreador and her rocker ghoul.

I was getting bored. Even Treize showed up after a bit and stayed by his prince's side with both of their ghouls not far behind them.

"Hello Mr. Maxwell. Do you mind if I sit by you?"

I nearly jumped out of my seat as I looked up at who was talking. It was that Toreador looking chick that owns the place. My necro-senses were telling me that something didn't feel right about her.

She sat down across from me and smiled as her ghoulettes sat down on either side of her. One of them moved in close and rested her head against the woman's shoulder. Talk about friendly. The other one just watched me. I'm guessing she the battle monkey of the two.

"So what can I do for ya?" I asked as I watched them. I couldn't place why she didn't feel right. It was like she someone completely different from what was sitting in front of me.

She just continued to smile as she glanced over my shoulder. Without me noticing, she had put her arm around the ghoulette leaning against her. I blinked. She could move fast.

"I just wanted to welcome you to Marie's Double. Named for the two beauties beside me. This is Mar…" the silent one beside her gave me a brief smile. "… And this is Ree." The ghoulette leaning against her shoulder gave me a coy smile from her position. "I hope you enjoy our bar and perhaps would like to visit my other business down on the main strip. It's called the Crimson Rose."

She owned the sex shop? I don't know any Toreador that openly own a sex shop. Then again, She didn't feel that old, maybe 10 years at the most. I couldn't help it; I sent a tendril of my power towards her.

She must have felt it cause she reeled back, the chair making a screeching noise as she quickly got up. Ree looked startled and Mar had a gun leveled at my head.

Weren't they supposed to take weapons away from everyone? I glanced at Mar and realized that the gun wasn't even loaded. Nice bluff.

"What the hell was that?"

I turned my attention back to the kindred in front of me. "Perhaps you should tell me your name."

She gave me an apprehensive look "Molly Beckett."

I opened my mouth to say something when my power quickly withdrew and hid like a cowering dog. Ya know that's a very awkward feeling? I couldn't help but turn around and find out what made my power, the thing that kindred fear, turn tail and run.

And there stood my answer in all their undead glory.

"Hello Duo Maxwell, we haven't seen you since, when was it? That little skirmish of ours in 1942." Her voice was just as I remembered, aloof and cold.

"If I remember correctly, we were the victors. It's nice to see that you've regained the use of your left arm." His voice was also how I remembered it, thick and accent less.

I gave them a faint, forced smile as I slowly got up and started to back away from them. "Yeah, how about that." I couldn't help it, I held out my left arm like a little kid showing off. "Got the full range of motion back and everything. Just needed to find another Tzimisce to fix it. Now that was a bitch."

The woman smiled at me. Needless to say, it didn't reach those cold blue eyes of hers. My eyes darted between the two of them, taking in their appearance compared to the last time I saw these two.

She was dressed in a dark wine red Victorian dress with all the petty coats and the gathering in the back. Her hair was free flowing and a mahogany brown, unlike the black it was the last time I saw her. Her skin was as pale as moonlight and had the perfect form to match. Hell, she had the means to keep that form or to change it if she wanted. Damn Tzimisce.

He was dressed in a black business suit with a dark red tie. Black short-cropped hair and a well-kept mustache. Brown eyes following every move ya make. This man radiated shadows. And he knew how to use them. Damn Lasombra.

She took a step forward. I took a step back. I knew I was already in her range, but sure as hell, I didn't want to make it any easier for her.

"What's the matter, Duo? Don't trust us to keep our hands to ourselves?" her voice may have sounded innocent, but trust me, what she said sure as hell wasn't.

This time it was her companion's turn to smile. What a scary thing that was. "Afraid we could end your life without you knowing?"

I shuddered at that though. He was right. Standing before me were two of the scariest kindred I've ever encountered. Well, to me anyway. I'm sure they scared other kindred as well. Maybe not as much as say, an antediluvian, or Cain, but still, they had their moments. Meet Victoria Winter, the only Cam Tzimisce with the backing of the big wigs of the Camarilla

And meet Johann, her associate. He's a Lasombra that can play all three sides and never get caught. A scary motherfucker that does things he shouldn't be able to do.


	2. Welcome to Cloud Nine

Reviewers thank you! You know who you are! I appreciate it! As for the rest of you, tut tut. Don't you know that writers love feed back. Silly readers, please leave feedback.

For disclaimer: see last chapter. Also, I don't own Mandy. A cookie to anyone who can guess where she's from.

I've also gotten requests for a glossary for some of my terms. Well, that would take an entire chapter. So I'll give you a few at the end of every chapter, hopefully that will help.

** XXXX **

So that night went rather well. After the confrontation with the deadly undead duo, I was rescued by good ole Milliardo. God Bless his undead heart.

Seriously, I could have kissed the guy. The last time I was in a room with those two, I barely escaped with my life and a useless gun arm. Not conductive to living in the world I live in. It took me nearly six months to find a willing Tzimisce to help me because there was no way in hell I'd let a human doctor try and fix me. Nuh huh. No way. Not with how medicine was in the 40's.

So I got to hang around with Blondie and Mr. Ventrue for a while. Needless to say, I was bored. So I wandered off with Noin as my bodyguard of course. There was no way I wasn't going anywhere with out back-up with those two wandering around.

When the party finally ended, I had learned the name of almost everyone in the city. With the exception of the two most untalkative people I've ever met. The green-eyed walking armory and Mr. Gangrel.

So now I'm back in this little rat hole of a motel. The moment Noin saw it she told me she was going to get me a nice apartment somewhere in the city. Tried to talk her out of it, but apparently there's no winning with that woman. Lucky me, I'm so pathetic I need to get handouts from the local bloodsuckers.

Just shoot me. Well at least now I know what I was hired for. I was handed the blueprints at the end of the night last night, so guess what I'm doing now?

Yeah, going over the layout of Marie's Double. Interesting joint even if I think the owner's a little shady. The place had two stories, a basement that serves as an emergency haven, the second story is really a big balcony that over looks the bar and dance floor with a DJ's booth and the three offices with sitting area for VIP's. Yet, it's supposedly incomplete. Wonder what this place was missing. It's obvious it has a liquor license; either that or that was all bootleg liquor.

There were escape routes everywhere. The basement had various tunnels off shooting from it. My guess is that it was a Nosferatu idea or we have one really paranoid Kindred in the city. I'm betting it's a combination of both.

So after planning ways of making this oh so innocent looking bar a stronghold, I needed sleep. So hello pillow, goodnight world!

**XXXX**

Knock. Knock.

Grumble, grumble, and rustle, cursing of people's ancestry.

My eyes opened to glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table. 4pm. I'd been asleep for nearly 4 hours. Damn it. Whoever is disturbing my sleep better have a damn good reason.

It takes me a bit, but I do eventually get up to answer the door in my black boxers and baggy T-shirt.

A crimson blush appeared on Noin's face when I opened the door. Guess she isn't used to seeing sleep deprived men just rolling out of bed. Serves her right.

"Hello Mr. Maxwell, do you normally greet ladies like this in the afternoon?"

That got a raised eyebrow and an amused look out of me. Least things like this didn't catch her off guard. It makes me wonder what would though. Might have to find out later.

So about 20 minutes later found me in my junk heap of a car with my bags messily repacked, following Noin's little black SUV with it's tinted windows to a place that I've never been before.

**XXXX**

"Damn, talk about having some serious cash." I couldn't help it when I got out of my junker. This place was a first rate apartment building. Apparently they thought I was worth the money. Or they though I'd live the year. The verdicts still out on that second and probably the first as well.

So she got me settled into this nice, two story apartment. The second story was really somewhat of a balcony over looking the living room that served as the bedroom with a kitchenette underneath it.

The place was bare for the moment. Hell, before I could even comment on the lack of say, a bed or cooking supplies, she mentioned that everything would be arriving tomorrow.

So basically, I get handed a place to live with everything taken care of. Damn it. Some days being the only living necromancer can be so troublesome. Other days have their perks. This might be might be one of those days.

Noin left me alone after awhile with my own key. Thanks mother, I'll be good mother. So now what? There's no TV, all I have with me is my clothes and whatever the hell else is in my car. Luckily that included a raggedy old blanket and a flat pillow. Better than nothing. Plus I'm wide-awake. I hate being wide-awake.

I look down at the clock on my cell. Its 6:45 pm. Sunsets around 7 or 8 pm. Got to hate the fall. It means that the fang faces get longer and longer days. Winter's practically their season and summer the bane of their existence.

So what to do? That is the question that sums up my entire existence. You'd think I'd have figured that out by now. No, apparently, being 122 years old and looking 19 doesn't help answer that particular question. That just plain sucks. Hell, I get carded every time I try entering a bar. Let's not even mention the hassle I have to go through when it comes to things like a driver's license and shit like that. Life is so unfair.

Let see, any clean clothes? Why not, lets wander the town, just need some cleaner, and doesn't look like I wore them to bed.

Success! I was wondering where this was. It was one of my tight, black shirts I bought in London when I was there last. Nice place, ungodly wet though. This particular one had mesh sleeves that went all the way down to my wrists. The sleeves were attached to the shirt with small straps. Nice clubbing shirt. Hell, why not, lets see what this place's nightlife is like minus the undead.

More rummaging found a pair of clean low riding black jeans. Now that the outfit was picked out, lets look for the accessories. More throwing things about and cursing until I found what I was looking for. A leather wristband for my right arm and a leather studded collar. Perfect, now I was ready to face the night. Add to this a trench coat and a small handgun and you have a necromancer looking for some fun while being tastefully armed.

Moments later found me, and my infamous braid, in my junker taking off for down town. I noticed there was a small, two story parking garage on the street before the main strip. It was the perfect place to hide the rust bucket.

So let's see, Marie's double was towards the end of the strip. There was a club called Cloud Nine, a small pub called the Doghouse, a few restaurants, some with seaside themes, one amusingly enough had a Goth graveyard feel to it. Might have to check that out later. The Crimson Rose stood out with its red neon sign and an advertisement in the window claiming to cater to all of a person's private needs.

So that was Molly Beckett's sex shop? I was expecting something tacky and tasteless. This seemed to be elegant and refined. If it weren't for the display of some suggestive items on display, I'd have thought it was a day spa or something.

You know, they say that curiosity killed the cat. Good thing I'm not a cat. I couldn't help it. I had to wander in. The inside was just as elegant as the outside. Items like vibrators and similar items were displayed discretely. While items used for bedroom games, or sensual items, where displayed in plain site. She seemed to have quite the collection of costumes on display also. She had everything from a dress composed completely of electric tape to a naughty nurses outfit.

Far as I could tell, this store catered to every fantasy I could think of. And some I'd rather not think of.

At the counter stood Molly, playing with a diamond ring around her ring finger.

I made my way up to the counter and gave her a charming smile. "I have to admit, this store far exceeds expectations. You've got everything here."

I guess she hadn't noticed me at first cause when I spoke she jumped. She had this startled dazed look on her face before shaking her head and snapping out of it. "Thank you Mr. Maxwell. I pride myself on keeping this place in full working order and filling the needs of my customers." She gave me this slight, grin.

I nodded as I caught a closer look at the ring. To my surprise it was an engagement ring. That's something you don't see everyday on a vamp. "Nice ring, if I'm not mistaken that's quite the engagement ring."

She tensed up, her other hand going to cover the ring from sight. "Y-yes, well…" she seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Must be one special guy to give you that." I continued on, ignoring her discomfort. My necro-senses were tingling. As her nervousness grew, her aura seemed to change. There was something definitely not right with this woman. When I asked Milliardo what clan she was, he said Toreador. I had my doubts.

She clutched her hands to her chest, her eyes downcast as she barely whispered. "Not a guy, and yes, she was special."

So it was a woman that proposed to her. Where was this person now I wonder? My power cascaded around her, tasting and dissecting her nervous aura. I detected a hint of insanity. That hint grew more and more as the moments wore on. Whatever she was, she had more insanity that anyone had a right to.

Tears escaped her as she whimpered. The sound of a door opened. I looked up to find two worried twins coming towards their mistress.

"Molly? What's wrong?" Ree softly called out as she came closer to us. I made my power encompass the two. Both were bonded to her, Ree the full three point bond and Mar two. That's something interesting to note.

Mar shot me a glare as her sister tended to their Mistress. She rounded on me. I was amused to note I was taller than her. Finally there was someone I was taller than. I'm usually the shortest one around sadly enough.

"What the hell did you do to her!" she was livid. She kind of reminded me of a mad little chipmunk trying to scold a cat for stealing its nuts.

I shrugged. "I asked her about her ring. That's all, honest."

They exchanged looks and starting to talk to Molly in a language that I think might have been French. It's been awhile since I've heard it so I don't quite remember how to translate. All I could tell was that they were definitely not calling her Molly. I caught the name Sadie more than once from the both of them. Huh, wonder why. Time to file that way into the files titled: Weird things to check into. I think it's time to hunt down the Nos.

It wasn't long after that I was chased out of the shop. Molly had been reduced to a crying, child like wreck with her two ghoulettes tending her.

**XXXX **

So where to now? Well, we could try one of the nightclubs. Cloud Nine looked promising. Time to get in line.

So twenty minutes later finally found me at the door. The bouncers stared down at my short stature and started to demand ID when their earpieces crackled to life. Next thing I know, I'm being ushered in.

If that didn't send up alarms I don't know what would. Two hulky guys were escorting me to the VIP section. I was itching to go for my gun.

Being the paranoid little necromancer that I am, I sent a tendril of my power out.

Shit. The two beside me were Brujah's. There were at least a dozen more random vampires through out the club with the biggest power signatures right up ahead. Right where I was being herded. Lets see how well I can get my ass out of any problems, shall we?

The muscle twins, both your average bald, black wearing muscle headed bouncers with superhuman strength, stopped in front of a closed door and ushered me into a private lounge. So either I've made friends and didn't know it or someone wants to try and buy my affections.

My guess is they want to by my affections.

"Welcome to my humble club Mr. Maxwell."

So this was the owner? She was definitely taller than me, maybe 5'10 to my 5'6. A wide black headband held her long, blond hair back. Her eyes were peculiar coal grey that seemed to bore into you. She was someone I definitely didn't want to mess with.

It took me a moment to realize she was the Lasombra that walked in with Mr. Gangrel last night.

Speaking of which, Mr. Gangrel happened to be seated not far from his benefactor. Not that I was complaining, this guy was hot. He was even better looking up close and the clothes he was wearing didn't leave much to the imagination. I mean, come on, his pants were obviously black leather and looked poured on. His shirt was nearly non-existent. God I love mesh shirts. I noticed around his neck was a pair of dog tags. I couldn't see what was written on them from here, but it made me wonder if they were novelty dog tags or the real deal. Maybe I'd finally learn Mr. Yummy's name.

"Yeah, no problem Ma'am. I'm just looking for a night on the town and, well, this place looked inviting. So here I am." I gave her a flirty smile, hoping that she'd fall under my witty charm. Hey, it works in the movies.

She seemed to be nonplused, as she didn't even bat an eyelash to my natural charms. Huh, maybe she batted for the other team. Or she's asexual. Hey, why not, weirder shit has happened in my lifetime.

"Then I hope you enjoy yourself. If there's anything I can do to make your stay here in Twilight more pleasurable, please let me know." She gave me this, fake, obviously practiced smile. If it weren't for her aura feeling like shadows, I'd have though she was a Ventrue with that legendary stick up her ass shoved way to far in there.

I just gave her a plain smile this time. If she wasn't going to bow down to my natural charms, then fine, I'll save it for someone who will. "I'll keep that in mind Ms…" Hopefully she'll get the hint and fill in her name.

"Ms. Welshman. Mandy Welshman." She supplied as she glanced toward her bodyguard. "And this is Heero Yuy, my business partner."

So that's what she was calling her bodyguard. Or hell, maybe I got it all wrong. I just hope he bats for my team or at least is Bi like myself. That would be nice. It definitely would make this year go by a lot quicker, that's for sure.

Heero Yuy just looked up when his name was called. I could tell he hadn't been paying attention to us. In fact, he had his head turned and was starring off with a suspicious red drink held in one hand. I didn't need to be a bloodhound to know what that was. He merely nodded towards me as his eyes landed on me. I had to suppress a triumphant shout when I saw him check me out in all of my clubbing glory. Yes! Go me!

"Hn. I don't see why the council decided he would make a good Keeper. Chang or Barton would have done just as well."

Crash. Burn. Ouch. Damn it. Not my night.

"And what can those two do that I can't do?"

"Command a crowd, hold their own in a fight and move fast enough to make a difference."

I winced. Okay, so I couldn't do any of that, but I'd like to think that my natural talent made up for that. "Oh yeah? Well, lets see what they can do against me. So there." Hello moment of immaturity, thank you for setting me up to get my ass kicked.

"Hn."

"That would be an interesting match up, wouldn't you agree Yuy? After all, you hold yourself and your colleagues in such high esteem. Hence, the reason I hired you lot." Ms. Mandy looked a little too interested in this conversation for my tastes. I don't think I like where this was going.

I gave a nervous chuckle. "Hey now, if you didn't think I was up to snuff for the job of keeper, why did this city hire me?"

"I didn't. The Camarilla did. I care only for my section of the city and could care less with what everyone else does."

Okay so that was interesting. So the Independents don't care for me being here. That makes me wonder exactly who hired me, all three sects, or just the Cam.

"Right, and who is this council that your boy Heero over there mentioned?"

"Ah, that little farce. The leaders in the Camarilla and the Sabbat thought it necessary to form a … primogen council with representatives from all sides. My two representatives were ignored. It was a four against two vote."

Huh, so in other words, watch out for them. I was thinking I had to watch my back against the Sabbat. Geesh, next thing I'll be learning is that the sky is green and the grass is blue.

"Well, that's nice to know… " I looked a little apprehensive and I knew it. Hell, wouldn't you if you just found out you were standing in front of someone that didn't want you here?

"Oh don't worry Mr. Maxwell, we have no plans on interfering with your duties. In fact, please do them. It saves me valuable man power that I am paying for."

"Perhaps we should tell him what happened to the last 'neutral' keeper?"

I turned my head towards where I thought the soft voice was coming from. I was surprised to see Mr. Walking Armory and Mr. Katana boy there.

Katana Boy, I knew for a fact was named Chang Wufei. I learned that from Treize. The guy couldn't keep his eyes of this Chinese man all night. I think it might have annoyed Une. It was hard to tell with her. However, his compatriot was a complete mystery to me. I've never met a Brujah that was so calm like this before. This guy was stone faced and even his aura had sort of tranquil feel to it. If this guy had the passion and rage that all Brujah were famous for, the he hid it well.

"If you wish." Ms. Welshman seemed to loose interest at that point and went to pour herself a drink. It was then I noticed that there was a mirror behind the mini bar. I stared at it in slight fascination. Her reflection didn't show up, but mine and nearly everyone else's did. Except for Mr. Green Eyes over there.

"The weakling that they appointed was a former FBI agent turned Camarilla Toreador. The pathetic fool was blown up by a car bomb rigged to the underside of his Lincoln. The idiot didn't know how to shoot his way out of a paper bag, let alone know how to do a proper sword match. Damn Toreadors and their need for artistic perfection. Sure didn't do him any good." Ranted one Wufei Chang. This guy must be great at parties. When it's time to pack up just let him loose.

Chang's companion stood there, waiting for the tirade to be done. "As you can see, we have many capable bodies. We did not feel the need to outsource and hire you. However, the Sabbat and Camarilla did. To their credit, you did come highly recommended by two of the current elders in the city."

Ding! Ding! Warning signs ho! "Elders? What elders?"

"Victoria Winter and her comrade Johann." Heero stood up, setting his drink down on a nearby table. "They were most adamant that the city hire you. They said that the city could only benefit from a human Necromancer governing Elysium."

"When we brought up that a Giovanni would do just as well, they turned it down. They said you could do their job better, faster, and easier than they could." Green Eyes added.

"Well, for the record, they copied me. Not the other way around." I stated as I rubbed my eyes. What I thought was a simple babysitting job was turning out to be so much more.

"Be that as it may, perhaps it's best you be on your guard. Even with your alluded to powers, we are not convinced that you are better than us at our jobs."

Okay, now immaturity rearing its ugly head again. "And what's that supposed to mean? I'm more than capable of holding my own against your kind fang face."

Moment the words left my mouth I felt a blade against my throat. My power reacted and attacked my attacker.

A fierce wind picked up, throwing around loose papers and dislodging pillows from the seats and the sound of several wine glasses shattering. My power wrapped around the person holding the katana and filled him like a cup, spilling over when he became full. I turned my head towards him. I briefly recognized Wufei as he held the katana to my neck. A smile found its way to my face as I felt him become mine. Mine to command, to control.

My power pushed him back, commanded him to drop the sword and kneel. He fought it with every bit of willpower he had, but in the end lost.

I stood over him as the wind died down. I could feel every single vampire in the club, their undead blood calling out to me, wanting me to command them.

My head tilted to the side as he looked up at me in fear. "Wuffers, that wasn't very nice. Now what have we learned?"

I looked around at everyone else in the room and noted that the only ones that hadn't taken cover were Heero and green eyes.

Trowa. His name was Trowa Barton. My power broke against him, begging to have him as it raced around him. Another portion of my power was playing with Heero's messy brown locks, again begging to be used.

I frowned and tried to concentrate. Damn I felt drunk. I guess I swayed a bit because next thing I knew I was being caught by someone. At some point my eyes closed cause when I opened them again I was staring up at Prussian blue eyes. Intense. Curious.

My back arched. A scream echoed through the room as my power rushed at him, crashing through him and settling down. That was the last thing I remembered.

**XXXXX**

**Glossary**: All terms are from the game Vampires the Masquerade. I don't own. Sorry. They belong to White Wolf Publishing.

**_Ventrue_**: Blue Bloods, Patricians Warlords. They consider themselves one of the ruling clans of kindred. As such, they normally embrace nobility, politicians, CEOs or equally powerful men and women. They think they know what's best for everyone and stick to traditions. (Affiliation: Camarilla)

**_Toreador_**: Artisans, Torries. The clan consists of some of the most beautiful and glamorous kindred. Some are actually quite famous, or infamous. They are all artisans and innovators. They are probably the most human like of all the clans. (Affiliation: Camarilla)

**_Kindred_**: Vampires.

**_Elysium_**: a neutral place that kindred can meet. Usually, there are no weapons or powers allowed here.

**_Keeper of Elysium_**: Keeps the peace here and is usually in charge of security and events that may take place. They are responsible for everything that happens in here.

**_Clan_**: you could say these are families or types of vampires. Each one is different and unique.

**_Generation_**: essentially, how many steps away they are from the original vampire, Cain (yes the biblical Cain)

**_Camarilla_**: an organization of vampires that believes in using the Masquerade to protect themselves from humans. Essentially, they believe in hiding from humanity by mimicking humanity and not drawing attention to themselves. The Camarilla or Cam is supported by six of the 13 clans even though they consider all kindred Camarilla. They uphold laws known as traditions.

**_Sabbat_**: a loose organization of cainites (Vampires) that reject the traditions and masquerade. They believe that Cain and the Antediluvians (the progenitors of their clans) will one-day return. They organize themselves in packs and are more tightly organized than the Camarilla. Since they don't care for the masquerade, they have no problems causing havoc and letting people know they're there. The Sabbat is mostly comprised of two of the 13 clans and various other kindred from different clans that reject the Cam.

Hope these terms help!


	3. Basement Hospital

Here's the next chapter! Same disclaimers apply.

Thank you all that have reviewed so far, please keep them coming. I'm tempted to say that I wont post anymore unless people start reviewing, but the verdicts still out on that. I'll give it one more chapter before I start holding things hostage lol

Though seriously, I've only been writing and posting so fast because of the wonderful reviews and the hit counts. If the reviews matched the hit counts then this would be in the 500 reviews mark. So shame on you for not reviewing!

Well, I've said my piece, so here's chapter 3. Thanks to all those who reviewed, you guys are awesome!

**XXXX**

Thump. Thu-thump. Thump. Thu-thump. Thump

Blackness. Grey. Hazy.

A young girl and her dog, smiling up at us. She offered us a flower. She asked if we were lost.

Explosions. Crashes. There was the smell of smoke and the heat of fire, rubble everywhere. The taste of death was in the air.

We searched the rubble and found the dead puppy. It was the girl's puppy. The building had collapsed in the attack.

Sirens sounding off, we knew it meant air raid.

Scrambling to hide. So far from home.

Fade into Black.

Explosion. Gunfire. Screams. The cries of children. The pleas to God to save them. More gunfire. The sound of a stained glass window breaking.

There was blood everywhere. We felt nothing but death. Hold on, a spark of life.

We rush to her. The woman that gave us our braid. Sister Helen.

Words. She died in our arms. We were the sole survivor. The Maxwell Demon.

The cries haunt our nightmares.

The blackness over whelms us again. Nothingness takes hold. Please... no more.

Thump. Thu-thump. Thump. Thu-thump. Thump.

**XXXX**

Groan. Whimper. Anyone get the number of that truck? My head felt like it had burst and my brain was leaking out my ears.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Mr. Maxwell. For a moment there, I was afraid we had lost you."

I managed to crack an eye open and then quickly shut it. I was going to kill whoever turned the lights on so bright. "It takes more than that to kill me, though, could someone turn down the lights? It hurts to open my eyes and I like seeing what's around me."

There was silence for a moment. Somehow I didn't find that very comforting.

"Um, Mr. Maxwell, the lights are down. We're in the basement of Marie's Double."

That was a woman's voice. I must be really fucked up if I didn't recognize it right away.

"Please tell me you're joking?" I paused for a moment. Hold on… "Err… how did I get here?" That would be one of the many questions of the night.

"We brought you here Maxwell."

Ah, that would be Wuffer's voice. I could feel a hint of my power residing in him. He was standing a little to the left, next to Trowa. Somehow, I could feel him too. What the hell happened?

"You passed out. So did Heero. We brought you both here to Dr. Sally Po."

Thank you Trowa for reading my mind. That was exactly what I wanted to know. Now lets see if I can figure everything else out. Wish me luck; I'm going to need it.

"From what I can gather, you are a very lucky man Mr. Maxwell. From what they described, and from what I was able to piece together, you suffered from some sort of overload or backlash. Unfortunately, this isn't my field of expertise. Don't worry though, we've sent for one of Clan Giovanni to help figure this out. She should be here in a few moments."

I tensed up and started to struggle to sit up. Damn my eyes to hell, I was going to be at least semi functioning if one of those undead bastards was going to be in the room. "Look, I'm fine. See? I can sit up and everything." Okay, so I was barely sitting up with my feet dangling over the cot they put me on.

"Mr. Maxwell, lay down. You're not the only patient here I'm concerned about. Heero has been unconscious since you touched him."

I turned my head towards her voice. My eyes finally started to focus, and I could finally see her. She looked to be somewhere in her early 20's with reddish brown hair done up in two French twists. She had a kind face with gentle blue eyes. She was dressed in slacks and a dark blue shirt with a doctor's lab coat over it. Ventrue. My power whispered Ventrue.

Behind her I saw Heero on another cot, lying as still as death. I frowned as I stared at him. There was a spark of power in him. It called to me. I answered.

Next thing we knew, he was gasping for breath and coughing. That got everyone's attention. Better him than me. I hate being the center of a Doctor's attention.

She rushed over to him and started checking him out, a frown appeared on her face and kept on deepening. Now I was curious. What could possibly be wrong with a dead guy?

Her frown turned to a confused look as she looked up at me. "Now I really want to know what happened. Heero's heat is beating. At a steady heart rate."

"Yes indeed. What did you do Mr. Maxwell?"

We all turned towards the door to see who had spoken. She was a tall, willowy woman with pitch-black hair and brown eyes. She was definitely of Italian decent with a faded tan to match. She was Giovanni.

"Hello Amelia, I was hoping you could tell us. This is more of your clan specialty than mine." Po greeted her.

I watched this woman like a hawk. Giovanni were known for their clan ability at necromancy. Unfortunately for them, or fortunately for me I guess you could say they lacked the natural talent I had. They had to rely on rituals and spells. Because of that, they've always envied us human necromancers. That envy always leads to problems.

Amelia looked to me and then to Heero before approaching him.

My eyes followed her as something tickled at the back of my mind. My power was warning me of something else in the room. It looks to me like Ms. Amelia had a ghostie following her. Not surprising. They always did focus more on what happens after death than the moment of. I guess in a sense so did I, but I reanimated them, gave them a spark of life. Her kind explored the ghost plane.

She turned towards me as I saw a shadow of something whispering to her. I'm willing to guess that's the ghostie.

"It seems, Mr. Maxwell, that you have done the impossible."

I couldn't help it. I had to grin. "You know, I don't know if that was a compliment, statement, or an insult, but I'm gonna take it as a compliment and say thanks. Though could you tell me what exactly I did?"

That got an amused look out of her. So this one has a sense of humor. That's nice to know. I always though they were back stabbing bastards. It could be just she's sneakier about it. Who knows? "You nearly made him human again."

That got a surprised look from all of us. The Doc had this surprised, shocked, confused type look on her face. I have to admit, it was pretty funny to see. The boys beside me were just impassive.

It was Heero that looked like a lost little boy. That look nearly broke my heart. I mean, this guy was looking like a perfect solider a few hours ago and now, everything's stripped away and he was lost. Damn it and I was the one that did it. I just don't know how I did it.

**XXXX**

After Sally decided to chase everyone out of the room, things got quiet. She decided we needed rest so here I was in the room with Heero. I know that Trowa and Wufei weren't far off. I could feel them on the other side of the door. It was then I realized I couldn't feel where the other vamps were. Yeah, I knew they were there; I just couldn't pinpoint exact locations.

I couldn't help it I had to say something to him. The guy was sitting there with a blanket wrapped around him like a lifeline with his head resting against his knees. He looked pathetic.

"Um… I'm Sorry…" Okay that was pathetic. I'm sorry? How lame can you get?

He looked over at me, his eyes slightly glassy. The poor guy was in shock. Damn it. Now I feel like even more of an ass.

Silence reigned for a few more moments before the guy finally spoke. " There's nothing to be sorry for."

Like hell there wasn't. My powers, magic, whatever the hell you want to call it, did something to him. I don't know what, but they did something.

A feeling of despair washed over me. My violet eyes looked at him in confusion as I tried to figure out where that came from.

'Am I still a Gangrel….' Whispered through my head. Shit.

"Yeah, I think you are." So I answered out loud. I'm still wondering why the hell I'm hearing his thoughts.

He jumped a little and stared at me. "How did you...?"

"Man, I haven't a clue. Somewhere between being knocked out and you getting a heart beat something freaky happened."

"Hn."

"Yeah… my thoughts exactly."

**XXXX**

We got a few more visits from various people as the night wore on. The good Doctor refused to let us go, so we were forced to stay here over night, err, day for observation. Since she couldn't monitor us during the day, she left her assistant, one Anne, watching me.

The girl was a cute, but a simple ghoul that was bound to Ms. Po. So as dawn came, I fully expected to be left alone with the girl as my only companion and Heero to do whatever it is that kindred do during the day when they sleep.

The first few hours past sunset were boring. I think I even managed to fall asleep. I know I woke up around noon, and hungry. Anne was kind enough to get me something to eat. So we sat there talking for a few hours.

I was amused to learn more about some of the vamps in the city. Most of the clans were represented, with the exception of some of the bloodlines and the rare clans. The Tremere kept to them selves and refused to do anything for anyone, even the Cam, with out a price tag involved. I also learned that up until six months ago, it was a free for all in this city. Then Victoria showed up. She claimed to be under Camarilla orders. Well, according to Anne, she straightened things out, called some people in and got everyone situated in their own territories, excluding some businesses that were already established, hence why the Crimson Rose and Cloud Nine were able to exist outside of their sects jurisdiction.

Now that was all very interesting to know. My experiences with the flesh crafting European bitch left me with the impression that she was all about self-gain. She probably still was. Who knew? I was still suspicious on why she asked for me by name.

All and all it was a very boring, but informative day. By far the most interesting thing happened around 4 pm, two hours before sundown. Heero woke up. What was even more surprising was that he had a craving for sushi. So he was either one of the few vampires that could eat food, or he was more human than vampire right now.

Two hours and an entire bento box full of sushi later every one else started to wake up. I felt Trowa and Wufei spark to life somewhere in the back of my mind. Glad to know Heero and I aren't the only ones participating in this mess.

Hey look the door's opening. Maybe it's our jailor coming to let us out? I can only hope.

Sally walks in and talks to her assistant briefly. I can tell she was surprised at Heero's behavior since waking up. It sure as hell surprised us when we heard him say. 'I'd like some sushi'

A few more minutes pass and she states we can leave. It's all I can do not to whoop for joy. I'm out that door in a matter of seconds with my braid trailing behind me.

Unfortunately, I don't get five feet out the door before there's a yank on my braid. Okay, I'm not ashamed to admit it, I yelped. Well wouldn't you if someone yanked on nearly three feet of hair? It fucking hurt! "Hey! What's the big idea?"

There was a snort from behind me as I managed to not fall on my ass. "The 'big idea' was stopping you from dashing to Kami knows where in this city of the damned and disappearing on us."

"Wufei and I want to go with you."

That was short and to the point. I'm starting to like this Trowa guy. At least he doesn't rant about the obvious like Fei does. Or pull my braid. Yeah, definitely like him more.

"I'm only heading back to my apartment. Though if you insist, fine, come along." I pouted as I nursed my poor braid. My poor poor braid.

So everyone piled into my junker that, surprisingly, was still in the parking garage and escaped the ticket police.

**XXXX**

Several complaints and threats later, we arrived at my new abode.

Few more minutes found me staring in shock at a newly furnished place. I guess Noin took it upon herself to organize and put things where they should go. That woman rocks. I need to buy her flowers or candy or hell, a puppy. Wonder if Milliardo would object.

There was the sound of a throat clearing and the feeling of amusement. I guess Heero was finding this funny. So sue me, I was still adjusting to this. It's not as easy as you think.

I turned and grinned at my guests. "Well, make yourselves at home. I need a shower and clean-ish clothes." That got me curious look from Heero. "So sue me, I haven't done laundry in awhile. I haven't had time to." I stuck my tongue out at him before making my way upstairs to the bedroom. Luckily the bathroom was attached.

20 minutes later and I felt human again. Well, as human as I got which was more than any of my guests. I padded down stairs in nothing but a pair of faded jeans and a towel around my neck. For once my hair was hanging loose from its usual braid. I needed to comb the mess out before braiding it or it'd be a mess later.

The sight that greeted me was amusing. Heero was leaning against the wall divider between the kitchen and living room. You know, it was one of those half walls with a counter top. The real kicker was the fact that he was eating an apple. Guess Noin stocked my fridge also. Now I really have to do something for that woman.

Trowa was sitting on the floor with an array of guns around him. The guy was cleaning a browning in the middle of my freaking living room. What the hell is it with this guy and overkill? On the plus side, I want him watching my back in a gunfight.

Wufei was on the couch. My guess was he was meditating or something. You know, he actually looks handsome when he's not scowling or ranting about something.

I sat down on the floor near Trowa and started my task of brushing out my locks and then braiding them. When I was done I sighed in relief. I just didn't feel right without my braid, ya know? It was my lifeline in a sense. Ever since…

I frowned before looking up at Heero. "Hey, Heero, do you remember anything from when we blacked out?"

He frowned as he took another bite of the apple. I could tell he was relishing the taste of it. It took him a few moments before he spoke. "Gunfire."

I watched him as a puzzle look crossed his face as he continued too much the apple. "There were also screams. Children screaming, and the sound of breaking glass." He looked up at me. "Those weren't my memories."

I sighed as I moved my braid over my left shoulder and started stroking it. "No, they're not. Just like the memories of a little girl and her dog aren't mine."

Heero stiffened as he stared intently at me. His apple was forgotten at the moment.

"It sounds to me like you two were sharing memories while you were out." Trowa looked up from his gun as he slid the clip home.

**XXXX**

After a quick change of clothes, it was back to Marie's Double. I figured it was a good idea to you know, go show up so I can assure my employers that I was still alive and kicking.

Of course, the other three came with me. Heero had barely left my side. Not that I minded. Hell, after what I've put him through, I'm surprised he hasn't grown those claws his clan's so famous for and torn out my spine.

The crowd became quiet as we entered. Heero was beside me and Trowa and Wufei were flanking us. I felt like I had my own bodyguards for God's sake.

It didn't get any better when I moved towards a nearby table and everyone seemed to move out of my way. Great, they were afraid of me. Well, at least that would make my job easier.

The first to attempt to approach me was Milliardo. He didn't get closer than five feet from me. Chicken shit. It's not like I have rabies and bit you know.

"This is unexpected."

Was that all he had to say? I've done something that a Giovanni claims is impossible and all he can say is that this is unexpected? Stupid Toreador. I'll show him unexpected.

"Thanks, apparently the unexpected and I are old friends. Didn't you know you were welcoming a walking time bomb into your city?" Another point to immaturity.

That got me a raised eyebrow and a slightly amused look. "Then you, like the rest of us, don't know what's going on either."

Damn observant bastard. I might as well tell him the truth. "Nope. Not a fucking clue. The little pool of blackness I use to play with you lot has never acted like this." Okay, so I was annoyed. I'm sarcastic when I'm annoyed. Isn't everyone?

"Perhaps I can be of some service."

I turned my head to see who spoke. Another Blondie was walking up behind Milliardo. This one looked to be maybe an inch or two taller than me. It took me a moment to realize that he was the Lasombra pack leader of the Sabbat in the city. I gave him a curious look as he approached. How could he help?

"It's obvious that the Giovanni don't know what is happening, and the Tremere would rather dissect you than diagnose the problem." He said softly.

Man this guy had a soft voice. It was nearly calming to hear. My head tilted a bit as I urged him to go on with a raised eyebrow and a hopeful look.

"It seems that your power thinks you are lacking. It's trying to compensate for that." He stopped beside Milliardo and folded his hands behind his back.

It started to stir. My eyes widened as my power spilled over, eagerly rushing at this new blonde. What the hell was going on?

My power crashed into him, wrapping itself around him, completely ignoring Milliardo. I felt a familiar tug as a spark similar to what I felt from Wufei and Trowa settled into this new guy.

Quatre. His name was Quatre. He was 250 years old. He was 10th generation.

I must have stood up at some point because I felt the other three move closer to me.

"Duo? Duo! Are you okay?"

Heero? That was him, wasn't it? Why did he sound so far away when he was standing right there next to me?

I felt myself start to sway and begin to fall only to be caught by someone. My eyes closed, as my sense of smell was flooded with the scent of forest and apples. Then there was nothing but blackness.

**XXXX**

Glossary Time! Same Disclaimer as before so see to last chapter.

**_Lasombra_**: Keepers, Shadows, Magisters. The leaders of the Sabbat, they are Darwinists, predators, elegant and inhuman. Firm believers in the worthy ruling and the unworthy serving, the Lasombra have maintained their traditions even as they have turned the Sabbat to their own purposes. (Affiliation: Sabbat)

**_Tzimisce:_** Fiends. If you described a Tzimisce as inhuman and sadistic, it would probably commend you for your perspicacity on the inhumanity, and then demonstrate that your mortal definition of sadism was laughably inadequate. The Tzimisce have left the human condition behind gladly, and now focus on transcending the limitations of the vampiric state. This clan of kindred can shape flesh and bone at will, creating monstrous creations that only they can control. (Affiliation: Sabbat)

**_Antitribu:_** someone who is opposed of one's clan's affiliations and sides with another sect. Example. Victoria is a Tzimisce Antitribu because she is Camarilla instead of Sabbat.

**_Independents:_** clans that don't affiliate with either side. For example: Clan Giovanni, Gangrel, Followers of Set.


	4. Home is where the vampire sleeps

Thanks to all those that reviewed! You're awesome!

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or Vampires The Masquerade

**XXXX**

Grumble. Grumble. Yawn. Stretch.

There was something soft under me. It felt so nice. I snuggled closer to it.

There was a feeling of a light touch on my hair. Someone was stroking my hair.

Slowly I started to come to. My head didn't hurt at all this time. That's a relief. I yawned as I nuzzled against whatever I was curled up against.

It took my brain a few moments to register that there was a heartbeat coming from my pillow. Before I could open my eyes and look up, my power answered for me. I was curled up against Heero, using his chest as my pillow. Somehow, that didn't faze me in the slightest. It felt good and who was I to argue?

"Looks like he's awake."

Quatre? What was he doing here? Isn't he supposed to be with his pack? A confused look crossed my sleepy face.

"Not quite. Give him a few more moments."

That was Trowa. Okay, waking up more. I felt all four of them in the room with me. That was oddly comforting. I was even more confused with that feeling. I barely knew these guys, why does it feel like I've known them for a lifetime and a half?

"Maxwell, we know you're awake. Open your eyes lazy ass."

The oh so charming Wufei opens his mouth.

"Leave him alone Chang."

Thank you Heero for standing up for the only human in the room. I didn't know where we were, but I could tell there were no vampires around besides mine.

Mine? Where did that come from? I started to pull away from my soft Heero pillow as my eyes opened. Everyone was either sitting or standing around my bed. We were in my apartment. When did we get here?

I gave Trowa a questioning look, hoping that he would be able to answer my question. Hey, he's done it before so why not now?

"You passed out again. Sally figured that you did whatever it was that you did before and she admitted that there was nothing she could do. There was no point in holding you for observation again."

Score! I was right, he can understand with a glance. This guy is awesome.

"Duo, what was the last thing you remember?"

I turned my head towards Quatre and blinked a bit as I thought back. "You were starting to explain something and then things just… exploded." Okay so not exactly exploded, but close enough for my tastes.

That got a soft chuckle from him. "That's one way to explain it. Your power has a mind of it's own Duo. It views you as its master and as such it thinks you're lacking some key qualities. I think what it's trying to do is compensate for that."

I gave him an odd look. So he's saying that my power was like a wayward puppy that was trying to fix its owner? Call me crazy, but that seemed a little farfetched. Even to me.

"What proof do you have to back this up?" I couldn't help it, arguing is in my blood I guess. It wouldn't surprise me but hell, I never knew my parents so it might as well be.

"What more proof do you need Duo? Look at us. You can tell exactly how much we are bound to you with your power." He shot back reasonably.

Damn it, Blondie's got a point. It was like Heero was bound to me the most with Wufei second. Trowa and Quatre were the least, but it was still there.

Hold on, wasn't Quatre supposed to be bound to a pack? Why does it feel like he is only bound to me? I looked up at the only blonde in our group. "Where are the ties to your pack?"

Quatre gave me a pensive look. "You destroyed them when you bound me. The same thing happened to Trowa and Wufei. They were bound to each other before you came along."

I winced. That made me sound like some sort of troublemaker that did this on purpose. That sure as hell wasn't my intent.

**XXXX**

After a sandwich and a can of Pepsi, I was ready to face the world again. Though something was bugged me. Why did Quatre know so much about me? That brought up another question. If my power has a mind of it's own, does it have a name?

I glanced up from my position on the couch where I was curled up in a corner with Heero sitting near me. I moved and he followed. Its kind of cute in this lovesick puppy dog type way. My eyes found Quatre easily enough. "Hey Q-ball, question."

The nickname got me an amused look. So I like giving people nicknames, it's fun and a habit that I wasn't about to give up.

"Answer, 42"

That caught me off guard. Was that a joke? Did Q-ball just tell a joke? Aren't Lasombra supposed to be as stiff as Ventrue? "Uh…" Yeah, real intelligent, I know.

That got a laugh. "What is the question Duo?"

"Right, well, I was wondering, how do you know so much about me?" Go, go curiosity. Get me an answer!

Quatre remained silent for a few moments before speaking. "Centuries ago there was a Necromancer, much like yourself, by the name of Mikail. When he died, he left behind a series of journals about his life that had been handed down in my mortal family for centuries. My sire embraced me to get those journals. I committed diablerie on him not long after I was embraced to protect my family. "

Damn. Sorry I brought it up. I winced in sympathy. Insert moment of silence here before my mouth kicked itself into gear again. "What did the journals have to say?"

Quatre gave a slight smile, breaking the somber mood. "According to The Necromancer Mikail, the power that you wield is its own entity that needs a human host to live. Hence why there is only ever one human necromancer at a time. When the host dies, the entity searches a world for a suitable host. Often times a newborn child. Each necromancer is different and the entity adapts accordingly. He described it as being of similar intellect to a human, but with the behavior of a dog. I was amused when I read that he named it accordingly. He called it The Grim."

That got a laugh out of me. "Do you know if any others named it?"

Quatre smiled. "According to him, yes. The entity has had such names as The Grim, Hel, Hades, Cerberus, Shinigami, and so on. It behaves differently for each host so each one had a different name for it."

I had to grin at that. "Then I guess it's my turn to name it huh?"

Quatre shrugged. "That's up to you. Just as many chose not to name it."

" Ridiculous, this so called 'entity' is nothing more than a power that Maxwell wields. The idea of it being some sort of living thing is idiotic."

I rolled my eyes at Wufei. "Just cause you got dragged into this doesn't mean that it isn't real."

Before he could respond, this entity or power of mine, whatever you want to call it, decided to rear its little head. I felt something take form and rush at him, disappearing into the katana wielding man and making him double over in pain. The pristine traditional Chinese getup he was wearing started to develop rips and tears in it as we watched in morbid fascination. I amusingly noted that it looked like he got into a fight with a scythe-wielding maniac on Prozac.

Trowa edged away from his usual partner in crime and found his way beside Quatre. I almost had to laugh. Here was this tall big bad Brujah hiding behind a short little Lasombra who was watching like a curious on looker at a car accident.

Heero just looked impassive. Hello emotionless mask.

"Maxwell…. Make it stop." Now he asks for help. I'd like to say typical Fei Fei, but hey, I have to admit I don't know him that well.

I shrugged at him. "Don't know if I can Wuffers. You might just have to say you're sorry."

It felt like the entity was agreeing with me the moment I said that. Now that was interesting. I think I might have a name for it yet.

"That's stupid…" whatever the rest of that remark was, was cut off by a vengeful slash to his face. I watched as a slash mark appeared along his left cheek. That looked pretty painful.

"Alright! Duì bù qì!"

As soon as it started, it stopped. I could feel the entity practically strut back towards me and slip back to wherever it resided when it wasn't being used.

"Deathscythe."

That got me curious looks from the others and a wary one from Wufei.

"Deathscythe?"

I nodded to Trowa's question. "Yeah, that's its name."

**XXXX**

Dawn found me with four wool blanket covered lumps in my living room. Noin must have figured that this would happen eventually and provided me with heavy-duty blackout curtains. Screw getting this woman a puppy, jewelry's looking like the only option. This woman really did think of everything.

The rest of my day was spent with me taking catnaps, doing laundry and discovering where everything was in my new abode.

By the time sunset rolled around, nothing could bring me down from my good mood. I had clean laundry and dinner cooked and done. How did that woman know I loved hamburgers?

Heero woke up two hours before sunset again just as I was finishing up frying a few burgers and decided he wanted one. So there we were, two hours later with the remains of dinner in front of us when the others woke up. I was amused to note that Wufei was the first, followed by Trowa then Quatre.

My little Deathscythe let me know that they were hungry. I knew that they wouldn't be wanting hamburgers.

So a quick change into a pair of faded black jeans with a red turtleneck and a black leather jacket and we were off. The boys wanted to go to Cloud Nine. So there we went.

This time instead of waiting in line we took the back entrance. Apparently, any kindred that wanted in just needed to flash fangs and pass an aura test to get in. That was handy to know.

The moment we hit the dance floor the boys branched off and disappeared. Yeah, I could feel where they were, but I couldn't see them in this crowd. Heero was the only one that stayed beside me. His excuse was that regular food worked just as well as blood for him now. Well, I guess that's a good think. That was one less vampire to feed.

Heero and I found a booth in a corner out of the way and sat down to wait. We weren't there long when everyone's favorite club owner took a seat.

Mandy studied us impassively. Her chin rested on her folded hands in front of her as her elbows rested on the table. I squirmed a bit as her coal grey eyes bore into me. I felt Heero move closer as a hand slid over to rest on my knee. That was an interesting way of showing support. But hey, I wasn't going to argue. Not a chance in hell.

"I didn't think that it was possible to make things worse in this city Mr. Maxwell, but somehow you've managed it."

I blinked in surprised. I glanced at Heero and noted that he looked as impassive as she did.

"In what way?" Okay, I was curious as much as I was shocked.

"The Sabbat is demanding retribution for taking their pack leader. The nearest Bishop is on his way here. I recommend that you go to Elysium tonight Mr. Maxwell."

The hand on my knee tightened. Yeah, I didn't like the sound of that either.

**XXXX**

Mandy left us after delivering the bad news. Not long after that, the others started to show up. Quatre was first. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his hair tousled. Looks like he did more than get a bite to eat.

Next was Trowa who looked amused. Quatre was glancing at him every so often. I'm betting that Tro-man caught Q-ball doing whatever it was he was doing. Must bug green eyes later for details.

Last to show up was Wufei who was now sporting a change of clothes. Instead of the white ensemble he had on earlier, this one consisted of a black Chinese shirt and pants with matching slippers. There was embroidery along the collar of a Chinese style dragon. Topping it all off was a white leather trenchcoat that I was sure hid a wide assortment of weapons.

"I had our things sent over to your apartment. I believe that will suffice in being our new haven."

Huh? Wait, when did I decide to let them move in? "Hey now. Aren't you supposed to clear that with me first?" I couldn't help but give Wufei an annoyed look.

He shrugged it off. That arrogant prick. "Regardless, it would be more prudent that we were all close to each other."

I grumbled as I crossed my arms. Damn it. I bet it was that stupid bond talking.

"How about we sort this out later? I believe that we have somewhere else to be?"

I looked up to find Quatre looking at me expectantly.

I blinked at the sudden change of subjects. How did he know we needed to be somewhere else? We just found out ourselves.

Quatre gave me this innocent smile. Innocent my ass. "One of the guards informed me. He said it was passed on to him by the Nosferatu."

So there were rats in this city. Note to self: find them. I want information.

"If you wish, I can get in contact with the Nosferatu I know."

Trowa, you did it again. "Please Tro-man. I want information. Just see if they're willing to share and at what price."

He nodded as he disappeared into the crowd.

I guess it takes more than a phone call. I wasn't too worried though. Trowa was a big boy. He can take care of himself.

The rest of us headed towards our next destination. Marie's Double.

**XXXX**

This time when we entered Elysium, everyone ignored us. I like this better than the last time.

Five minutes. That's how long we were by ourselves before Milliardo and his entourage descended on us. Then the fireworks began.

"Do you how much trouble you've caused? The Sabbat has threatened to hold the Camarilla responsible for this mockery against them. We were trying to have a peaceful co-existence with them before you came along with whatever the hell it is that you do."

Whoa. Blondie was pissed. The normally composed man was quickly spiraling into rage fit for a Brujah with, hopefully, no violence. I hope. Please? I don't want to have to fix a broken arm. Or leg. Or neck.

Treize placed a calming hand on Milliardo and he managed to reign himself in. Noin and Une were standing behind them. Noin looked uneasy. I guess she wasn't used to seeing her master so mad. Une looked annoyed and kept shooting me angry glances. Hello uber bitch. There's the door. Get lost.

"What Milliardo means, is that we did not expect this. We hired you simply to manage Elysium for the year and maybe help us pick a new keeper when your contract was up. We did not realize that your power was a loose cannon that would react so badly to being surrounded by Kindred."

That would be Treize trying to be diplomatic about this. The basic run down? We're pissed. You weren't supposed to cause trouble. You were supposed to prevent trouble. Now fix it.

I sighed and shrugged as I leaned in, elbows resting on the table. I raked my fingers through my messy bangs and looked up at the towering Camarilla leader. For once, I felt small compared to them. I don't mean short, I mean tiny. You know that feeling you get when you're up against odds that you don't think you can deal with? Yeah, that feeling.

"Duo didn't know that this would happen when he accepted the contract. If he had, it wouldn't have helped. His power would have found another way of gathering us together. This just happened to be the best opportunity it had."

Quatre, you are wonderful. I think I know what Deathscythe was thinking when it picked him. I needed a diplomat. I sure as hell wasn't diplomatic. Shoot first and maybe ask questions later. That's more my deal. Even though guns are usually the last option. The first option is run.

"I see. That doesn't erase the fact that he's created a political mess. The Bishop of Detroit is on his way. I trust that you will deal with this."

And that would be Treize wrapping up the argument. I should send him a fruit basket. Yeah, right. Like he could eat it.

Noin ushered the group away and sent me an apologetic look. I was happy at least she had some sympathy for me.

I folded my arms on the tabletop and let my head rest on my arms. This just goes from bad to worse. First my power gets a personality and thinks I need to be adjusted. Then I find out that the power's more of a living thing that some ability I was born with. Next I find that the kindred my power picked have their own baggage. I'm sure as hells don't know what Trowa and Wufei brought with them, but there's probably something. Quatre's got ties to the Sabbat that is biting me in the ass. Heero… well, I don't know what's up with him. The memory I saw of his was just as fucked up as my own personal nightmare.

"Quatre, are you going to participate in the vaulderie? That would fix this mess."

That was a female voice. Someone from a noble family if my ears don't deceive me.

"No Dorothy, I don't think I can."

Dorothy huh. I glanced up though my mess of bangs. It was that blonde chick from the first night. She was the one that was at Q-ball's side all night. She was the freaky eyebrows woman.

"Why not? Quatre, we need you. You are the pack leader, our Ductus. You can't simply leave. You know that."

I didn't like the look in her eyes. Yeah, she sounded innocent and sweet, but her eyes were that of a predator sizing up her prey. I didn't like that at all.

I could feel Quatre tense. He knew she was sizing him up. The sweet blonde we knew was gone in an instance. He straightened up and gave her a cold, calculating look. "Oh? You didn't need me when you went behind my back and tried to get me killed on the last mission. Does the bond mean nothing to you dear priest?"

Her eyes became colder as she continued to look sweet. "What do you mean Quatre? We all lived and gained glory in the eyes of our superiors from that mission."

"Only because I survived to come save the day at the last moment."

Ouch. Somehow I don't think that earned either of them brownie points with each other. Despite the Sabbat's habit of bonding all it's pack together, I think these two somehow became enemies.

"For that we are grateful Quatre. We were lucky to have The Great Sandrock in our pack."

I was confused. Sandrock? Where'd that come from? I glance at Heero who was beside me and noticed that he had tensed up. Even Wufei looked uneasy. Okay, I was missing something here. What was going on?

"Oh, you haven't told them? Perhaps it slipped your mind dear Quatre? I'm sure Duo would be surprised to know how you got that name. Why not tell him?"

"I'm warning you Dorothy, leave." Quatre's voice was like ice. Damn, this must be serious.

She smiled. " Steady as a rock, fierce as a sand storm. Did you know dear Quatre suffocated an entire village once? He killed them in their sleep, covering them like a sandstorm from the desert he was born in."

Before I knew what was happening, Heero grabbed me by my braid and yanked me away from the table. I was yelping and screaming for him to let go of my braid when something dark caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.

I managed to turn my head enough to catch a glimpse of black tentacles racing out from under the table and grabbing Dorothy. There was the sound of yelling and screaming. A chair crashed somewhere and she went flying into a table on the other end of the room with the bar finally halted her path. There was the sound of breaking glass accompanying her stop. That was going to cost a pretty penny to fix.

There was the sound of a sword being drawn and the click of a safety being turned off. I looked back at Wufei and Heero to see them have their weapons. They had a katana and gun respectively. They looked ready for battle.

I rubbed the back of my head. My poor braid. Since when was my braid a leash? I seriously need to yell at them for that. First it was Wufei, now Heero. So not cool.

"Everyone remain calm! We don't want things to get worse."

I turned my head to see who was talking. It was a woman with red hair that resembled clouds with the way it was cut and styled. She had a smile on her face and was trying to calm everyone down. People seemed to be listening to her and quieting down. I frowned. She was using her powers on us to calm us down. And it was working.

She walked over to us, all smiles and calming gestures. " How about you put those tentacles away Mr. Winner. We don't need any more property damage. I'm sure Molly wouldn't appreciate it."

Quatre merely nodded as he dismissed the condensed shadows he used to throw Dorothy. A moment later he was smiling pleasantly at her. "Sorry to be of trouble Ms. Catherine."

She shook her head. "It's no problem Mr. Winner, and how many times do I have to tell you to call me Cathy?"

"As many times as I have to tell you to call me Quatre Ms. Catherine."

Okay, crisis aborted. And with minimal casualties it looks like. Now who was this new chick?

"That would be Cathy. She's a Toreador and the current sheriff."

I practically jumped out of my skin at the sound of Trowa's voice right next to my ear. I quickly turned around to face him. He was standing there as if nothing happened and he hadn't left.

His eyes were trained at the scene before him. A quick pained look flashed though his eyes and was gone in an instant. What was that? I glanced back at Quatre and Cathy. Then back to Trowa. Something wasn't adding up here.

I looked over to Wufei. His eyes were on Trowa. Those black depths had a sad look in them. The moment he noticed me, the look was gone.

Okay, lets piece this together. Trowa and Wufei here bonded together before I came along. Now Trowa is looking at Quatre with a pained look. I'd almost describe it as longing. Fei looks sad. Huh. If I didn't know any better, I'd say a lover's triangle was appearing before my eyes.

I glanced over at Heero. He was still tense but at least the gun wasn't pointed at anything. That was a good sign.

I sighed and tugged my poor braid over my shoulder and petted it a bit. Okay so I was still upset about it being pulled. I repeat. It's not a leash.

A few moments later Trowa spoke up again. "The Nosferatu has agreed to meet with us. Tomorrow in the basement of Elysium."

"And the price? I know they didn't let you go without a price Trowa."

"The price was unimportant."

"Trowa, buddy, what's the price?"

There was a pause for a few moments. "They want information."

"On what?"

"You."

**XXXX**

**Translation Notes**:

_**duì bù qì**_- I'm sorry; forgive me; pardon me. Hey, it makes sense. Wufei is Chinese after all.

**Glossary**:

_**Gangrel**_: Beasts. Animals. Outlanders. Of all the vampires, the Gangrel are perhaps closest to their inner nature. These nomadic loners spurn the constraints of society, preferring the comfort of the wilderness. How they avoid the wrath of the werewolves is unknown; perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the Gangrel are themselves shape shifters. When a mortal speaks of a vampire changing into a wolf or a bat, she is probably speaking of a Gangrel. Affiliation: Independent.

_**Nosferatu**_: Sewer Rats, Lepers. Nos. The most visibly cursed of all Kindred; the Embrace warps each Nosferatu into a hideously deformed creature. The Nosferatu are the spymasters of the dead, collecting information and selling it for a dear price. They are also the masters of the underground, living in the sewers for protection. Affiliation: Camarilla

**_Brujah_**: Rabble. Zealots. Quick to anger and always passionate in the Modern Nights, they have fallen from their former position as a clan of lofty philosophers and activists and are often painted as merely a rabble of "angry young Kindred" and revolutionaries. Despite their rebellious nature, the Brujah were one of the founding clans of the Camarilla, and they have remained a pillar of that sect throughout its history. Affiliation: Camarilla

**_Malkavian_**: Kooks, Lunatics, Madmen, Clan of the Moon, Malkie. A Clan of Kindred cursed with insanity. Every Malkavian is in some fashion insane. They are one of the original seven clans of the Camarilla and, strangely enough, a pillar of the organization. Throughout history, the Malkavians have been the seers and oracles of the Kindred, bound by strange compulsions and insight. Affiliation: Camarilla

**_Ductus_**: The Sabbat term for pack leader.

**_Vaulderie:_** the blood tie that keeps a Pack together through forced loyalty.

**_Blood Bond:_** s a supernatural link of fidelity and dependency of one individual (the thrall) on a vampire (the regent), created and maintained by the repeated consumption of blood. After the first sip of blood, the thrall begins to develop strong feelings for the regent, whether love or hate, though they are still free to act as they choose. Those in a one-drink bond may unconsciously seek out the regent, seemingly accidentally running into them on a frequent basis. After the second sip, the regent becomes a very important person to the thrall, who may go out of their way to seek the regent's attention or please them. It becomes difficult for the thrall to do anything that would harm the regent, and the regent likewise finds it easier to convince the thrall of things. Though the thrall's craving for the regent's blood increases, they still retain their free will. After the third sip, the blood bond is complete. The thrall is now subject to the regent completely and loves them as much as they are capable of loving anyone. The regent is the most important person in the thrall's life and takes priority over all else; sufficiently weak-willed individuals will commit any act the regent asks of them. It may still be possible for the thrall to act against the regent, but only temporarily and after an extreme effort of will.

(Note! Duo's power sort of did it's own thing that mimicked this.)


	5. Rats in the Basement

Yes! Another chapter for my lovely readers!

Here you go! Please review! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

A/N: Some of you might be wondering about the penname issue. I changed mine earlier today. Yes, I was ToraTigera. I guess you could say I got sick of the name. So Now it's NightingaleRose. Sorry if that causes trouble for any one.

**XXXXX **

The next day passed with little of nothing to do, besides sleep. Buy hey, who am I to complain. Lazy days are a rare thing to me. Plus my sleep schedule has been non-existent since arriving here.

That evening after everyone was awake and all made the appropriate wardrobe changes, we headed back to Elysium.

This time we took the back entrance with Trowa in the lead. He was the one that arranged this entire thing anyway. He should know where we were going.

He led us down to the basement. You know, now that I'm down here and can actually look around, it's actually pretty neat down here. The floor plans don't do it justice.

Half of it was walled off to form a sort of Vampire clinic for Sally to patch people up. According to Q-ball, she doesn't take sides and doesn't ask questions. There was a small area walled off for the club's storage. Another area looked like a safe and a keypad on it. I'm betting that's the armory.

Then there were the tunnel entrances. One wall was nothing but arches with a foot or two in between them. I don't know where they led to but from the looks of it, it wasn't very inviting.

Trowa stopped near one of the tunnels on the far right and stood there waiting. That meant the rest of us were also sitting here in a dark, cold, dank basement waiting. Did I mention I hate the combination of dark, cold, and dank? It reminds me too much of a crypt. Not a pleasant thought.

We didn't have to wait long before the sound of footsteps echoed through the tunnel. Out of it appeared five old men, all of them wearing some sort of lab coat. And they were … weird.

Okay, check my logic here. The Nos are as ugly as sin and can hide it with one of their powers and make themselves appear like anything they want. Right? Then why for the love of God did these five crackpots decide to look like old men with prosthetics? Okay, so it's only two that have the fake parts and the other three look relatively normal. Well as normal as a bald guy, a squat guy with a thin villain mustache, and a guy with a really pointy nose, a mushroom cut and a scar over his eye can be. The two with the fake parts were just odd. One wore what looked like goggles permanently attached to his face and had a robotic like arm and the other had a fake nose.

These have got to be the worst Nosferatu I have seen yet.

"Glad to see you brought them Trowa. We were beginning to wonder if you would show up."

So the guy with the mushroom cut sounds like a weasel. You know, one of those high squeaky type voices. Okay, so it wasn't that high, but it still sounded weasel-ish to me.

"I don't see why you would doubt me. I always keep my promises."

I'm more than happy to let Trowa talk for us. It looks like the others don't mind either. Wufei and Heero both looked at ease. Well, as at ease as a Brujah carrying a sword and a Gangrel with a gun could be. Quatre just watched. Somehow I just knew he was ready to do the tentacle rape attack again if we needed it. As for me, well, I'm sure Deathscythe and my trusty browning are good enough. I hope anyway.

"Of course, of course. Business with you is always entertaining."

I nearly jumped when the guy with the goggle eyes spoke. "Before we get started, perhaps we should make sure everyone here understands our price. It wouldn't do for us to give you the information you requested and then not get paid properly for it."

I glanced at Trowa. Something about this made me edgy. Tro-man said they wanted information on me. That should be straightforward right? They ask questions, I answer. Right?

Trowa was silent as usual. He just gave them a slight incline of his head, not taking his eyes off the five kindred in front of us.

"All we ask is for Mr. Maxwell to answer a few questions and to donate a small vial of his blood. That's all."

Okay so far only the pencil mustache one sounded pleasant. Hold on, vial of blood? What for? What would they need that for? Screw that, I know a few kindred that would probably love to get a hold of my blood. There's no telling what they could do with that. No way. Not going to happen.

"No way. Not a chance. Forget it." Oops. I said that out loud, didn't I?

Trowa glanced at me. I couldn't help it. I winced. I so wasn't helping. Talk about opening my mouth and shoving my foot down my throat. That so didn't help.

Goggle man and mushroom cut frowned as the other ones looked impassive. "Then we can't give you the information you want."

"I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement that Duo will be willing to pay?"

Thank you Quatre. My hero the diplomat.

"No. Those are the terms that Mr. Barton agreed upon when we negotiated this meeting. We will not accept anything less."

Shit. Okay, Trowa probably meant well, but still. I don't want to give up my blood. No way in hell.

Trowa glanced at Quatre. Quatre was the one that sighed and turned to me. "Duo, we need to get answers from them. Unfortunately, they are the only Nosferatu in this city so our options are limited. Please cooperate."

As sweet as Quatre is, I wasn't about to agree for anything.

"Maxwell, you're being a child. Suck it up and give them a bit of your blood. You're lucky they didn't ask for something more troublesome."

I turned to Fei and glared at him, arms crossed over my chest. Okay, so I probably looked the part of a child with my braid over my shoulder. So sue me. I know what could happen of my blood fell in the wrong hands. Namely a Tremere's or Giovanni's. Not pleasant thoughts at all. I don't need a kindred version of a mage or an undead wanna be necromancer trying something they shouldn't be doing. I wasn't about to risk it.

"Duo. Please, you're making this harder than it should be."

My glare at Wufei faded as I turned to Heero. I sighed. Yeah, he did have a point. "Yeah, well, I know what can happen if it falls into the wrong hands. I don't want that to happen."

Heero moved closer to me and reached out and gently grabbed my braid and tugged on it. "Duo, I'm sure the Nos wont sell it to the highest bidder. Isn't that right, J?"

"For once the outlander is right. We want it for our own research purposes, nothing more. The Giovanni in this area ignore us and the Tremere sit in their chantry with their thumbs up their ass all day."

All right, so my self-righteous anger and worry just deflated like a balloon. Well, more like popped. If they were sure that it wouldn't get used by one of those clans, then fine, what choice do I have?

I grumbled softly. "Fine. Whatever."

A smirk appeared on this J persons face as he motioned for the bald silent one to move. He gave me a reassuring smile and gently grabbed my arm and pulled up my sleeve past my elbow. I shut my eyes and looked away as he started to draw the blood. I've always hated needles. It's so discomforting to feel them under your skin when someone's poking and prodding you.

Few minutes later, he was done. Thank you God. I rubbed my arm as I pulled my sleeve down. There was even a little snoopy band aide on the spot he drew blood. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were mocking me.

I moved away from them and hid behind Heero. Me childish? No comment.

"Our end of the bargain. Now it's time for yours."

The mushroom cut dude nodded. "The information you requested is all in here. I trust that it will be put into good use."

The man with the fake nose produced a thick manila folder and handed it over to Trowa.

"Now, how about our questions."

I didn't like the grin on all five of their faces when that goggle guy said that.

**XXXX**

"Whoa. I didn't realize she was that old."

After the mini interrogation section, we hightailed it upstairs to Elysium. Milliardo was kind enough to let us borrow an empty office so we could go through the folder.

I sprawled myself out on an old fashioned love seat with my feet in Heero's lap and my head and braid hanging off the armrest on the other end. Quatre was sitting on the left back corner of the desk, reading over Trowa's shoulder. Tro-man was sitting at the desk. Poor Fei looked really awkward standing there on the other side of Trowa and Quatre. Yea there was definitely a love triangle there. I wonder if they realized it yet.

Trowa was reading things from the folder out loud. I had to admit, the little vial of blood and a few personal questions was well worth it. He managed to get us information of Victoria, Johann, and the Bishop who was supposed to be coming to town.

"Apparently so. Their records show that she was born 1423, embraced 1444. They don't know who her sire was. However, they do note that from what they can tell, her embrace wasn't entirely intentional. It's also noted that the Nos started their file on her around the time of her embrace. Something about a conspiracy at the time."

I blinked. "Huh. Well… someone check me here, when was the Camarilla formed?"

"Officially 1493."

I turned my head to look at Wufei. Okay, I expected either Trowa or Quatre to answer not Wufei.

Snort. "Maxwell, don't judge a book by its cover. I was a scholar at one point."

I guess my face showed my surprise. I shrugged. "Sorry Wu-man. It's just a slight shocker you know."

Another snort. " The name is Wufei, Maxwell."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "And my name's Duo Wu-bear."

That earned me a growl and an annoyed look. "Maxwell, last warning. Next time it's your braid that will suffer."

I pouted. Okay, stopping now. I love my braid too much to sacrifice it just yet. Wait until I have a chance to hide. "So anyway. She predates the Cam."

"So it would seem."

I blew at my bangs. "Then why is she in it? Don't you think she woulda went Sabbat when it formed? I mean they formed around the same time, didn't they?"

"The Sabbat was formed in response to the Camarilla by the Lasombra and Tzimisce that did not agree with it."

There goes another history fact by our beloved sword wielder. How much does he know? I mean you've got to either be around for a really long time to know this shit or know the right people. I knew he was around 267 years old. So he must know the right people. That's got to be it.

"Wufei, how do you know that?"

Was that a suspicious or curious question? I couldn't tell with Quatre right now. All I could see was his eyes were trained on Wufei.

Wufei to his credit blushed. "I knew an Anarch Brujah that claimed to be at the Convention of Thorns."

That seemed to be a good enough answer for Quatre who smiled at the blushing vamp. "Ah, one of the few scholar Brujah left?"

Wufei easily countered with his own two cents. "We are all scholars, it's just some of the modern neonates have lost their way."

Quatre inclined his head. "Of course."

Okay, if I didn't know any better, I'd say those two were doing a weird sort of flirting over Tro's head. Trowa seemed to think so to because he was looked from one to the other with an arched eyebrow and I swear he had a surprised look on his face. I could have cheered.

I glanced over at Heero who seemed to have an amused look on his face. I guess he came to the same conclusion I did. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one seeing this.

"Back on topic, who is this Bishop everyone keeps on talking about?"

"It says that this particular Bishop is from Detroit. He goes by the name Bishop Darcy"

I snickered. Please tell me this was a woman and not a guy.

"Duo, he's no laughing matter. It says here he's a 7th generation Lasombra." There was a pause from our own Lasombra. "He must have diablerized his way up."

I sighed. Ruin all my fun. "So he has no problem eating other kindred. Big deal. How bad can he be?"

That earned me an irritated look from both Quatre and Wufei.

"Duo, that means he is an opportunist like the rest of my clan. If we get into a fight with him, He won't hold back. I can guarantee he will try and kill us when the moment presents itself."

"Winner is right Maxwell. From what I understand, becoming a Bishop is no easy matter."

I grumbled as I leaned forward and pulled my legs in to sit Indian style. "Alright, Alright, I get the idea. Bishop equals bad. Gotcha."

"Hn. Baka."

I stuck my tongue out at Heero in retaliation. The way he said that sounded almost, fond.

Before Trowa could move on to the next file, there was a knock at the door before Noin popped her head into the room. "Sorry to bug you guys, but Duo you're needed downstairs. There's someone making a scene and well, you are Keeper of Elysium."

I nodded as I unfolded my legs and stood up. I was out that door a few moments later with the guys right behind me.

**XXXX**

The scene that greeted us was that of chaos. Unsurprisingly, there was a Malkavian in the center of it.

There was an over turned table and a few chairs scattered about. A black haired woman that I didn't know was trying to talk to someone behind the bar and whenever she got close enough to it, a glass or bottle went flying at her head.

I eyed the mess warily and made my way hesitantly over to the pleading woman "Hey, ma'am? What's going on here?"

The girl turned to me with a slight look of relief in her blue eyes. "It's Relena, something upset her."

I frowned a bit. Yeah, her aura felt like insanity, but it was a more subdued variety. If it weren't for Deathscythe insisting she was a Malkavian, I would have just though she was another clan with mental issues. It happens.

"Okay… and who's Relena?"

Next thing I know she's grabbing my arm and forcing me to duck with her. There was the sound of something flying over our head and a crash a second later. I glanced behind to see a broken bottle of rum shattered on the floor. Why must it always be the rum?

"That was Relena."

I winced. The girl must have a good arm. Or be really upset. Who can tell with one of her clan?

"Ah... That looks like it could've been painful." Go me. I state the obvious.

"You think?" she gave me an annoyed look. "All I know was she was talking to Molly and then things escalated from there. Relena started screaming and Molly started wailing like a little child. Her ghouls managed to drag her away before Relena started to get violent."

Huh. That was another tidbit of information to add to the mystery that was Molly. One of these days I'll have to solve that mystery. But for now, lets deal with this.

"How do you usually calm her down?"

I nearly jumped when I heard Heero's voice. When the hell did he get here? Wait, what? Usually calm her down? Has this happened before?

"Usually? I dominate her. But as you can see, I can't get close enough."

I looked between the two of them. "Okay, hold on, this has happen before?"

Heero nodded. "Hilde and Relena came to this city nearly six months ago. In that time, Relena has had nearly 20 episodes similar to this one."

That was a lot of tantrums.

Hilde gave Heero an annoyed look. "She's normally not like this. I've known Rel for years and before coming here, she was harmless, just a little unhinged. Then we get here and she starts doing this every time she runs into Molly Beckett. I'm telling you there's something wrong with that woman."

"Hn."

I'm guessing this was an old argument. I sighed. "Can we discuss this later? We have a potentially dangerous, alcohol wielding woman on the other side of that bar."

The moment that left my mouth the room went black. A hand went to my chest as I felt like I couldn't breathe. It was like someone was piling rocks on my chest while I was drowning.

I felt a hand grab my braid and gently move over to me. The next thing I know, there are lips crushing against mine and giving me mouth to mouth.

As soon as the blackness descended, it lifted. It took a moment for me to focus my eyes to see who was attempting to help me breathe. I was surprised to find it was Heero basically kissing me.

He quickly broke the kiss and looked away. My guess is he was embarrassed. Okay, so it wasn't a guess, it was more of a fact. I couldn't blame him. A goofy grin was forming on my face. I couldn't help it. I enjoyed that.

After our little awkward moment, all attention was drawn to the bar where there was a black… something. I guess you could say it was a dome or something. Soft screams were coming from it.

Hilde dashed for it and started pounding on the now confirmed solid shadowy mass. "Relena!"

I glanced around to see who might be doing it. Who ever it was, was powerful.

It didn't take me long to spot Victoria and Johann. I'm guessing they had a hand in this.

Victoria was watching with a look of amusement. Johann was staring intently at the shadowy mass. We found our culprits.

I tensed as Victoria started to move towards the mass with Johann in tow. She was there in moments. A shove to get Hilde out of the way and the shadows started to compress and recede a bit till only Relena's head and shoulder were showing. Before the distraught Malkavian could scream Victoria had her hand over the girls mouth and swiped it down. What was left behind was flawless smooth skin. She had removed the girl's lips.

Hilde was screaming and trying to punch the Tzimisce woman. That didn't work. In fact, I'd say that wasn't a very smart move. Victoria pushed Hilde off her and reached her hands out for the girl's throat.

A black tentacle appeared out of nowhere and latched on to Victoria's hand and yanked it away from Hilde.

My eyes followed the tentacle back to Quatre. He was using the shadows from the over turned table to hold the woman fiend.

"I'm sure there's another way of settling this besides resorting to flesh crafting them quiet."

If there's any one that can defuse this situation, it's Quatre. I hope anyway.

"Perhaps, but this is more entertaining and faster." To my surprise a tentacle that looked more solid that Q's shot towards him from her very own shadow. It latched onto his arm near the shoulder and started to tighten before sliding down. To my horror, it was removing the skin and muscle with it, leaving nothing but bone, tendons and ligaments in its wake.

The horror of what was happening broke Quatre's concentration. His tentacle disappeared.

Victoria smirked as she pulled her tentacle away. It returned to her, depositing a mass of skin and meat into her waiting hands. She lost interest in Hilde and Relena who were both stunned by the horror of what she had done. Hell I was stunned. I knew Tzimisce were sadistic and cruel, but this was just, wrong.

I felt someone clutch my braid. I didn't even have to turn to look to know it was Heero. I could feel his disgust for her radiating off of him.

A sound of a katana being unsheathed and the sound of a safety clicking off echoed through the room. It looks like our Brujah warriors were pissed.

"I give you to the count of three to fix him."

Click. "One."

Victoria seemed to find this funny as she started to mold the lump of flesh in her hands. "Really? Your weapons don't scare me."

There was the sound of a grip tightening on a handle. "Then perhaps the thought of what we will do to you will."

"Two."

I watched in morbid fascination as Quatre stood there, cradling his bone arm as Trowa and Wufei slowly advanced on who was arguably one of the most dangerous Kindred in this city.

Victoria just watched them. She didn't make a move to try and defend her self or get away. She just stood there molding the flesh into what looked like a grotesque mockery of a rag doll. Hilde was frozen crouched beside her while Relena was struggling and giving muffled shouts.

"Three."

Gunshot. Sound of a sword cutting through the air. The sound of laughter and blood splashing on the floor. The sound of flesh hitting the floor.

Just as they hit three Trowa fired and Wufei slashed at her. She surprised them by turning into a pillar of blood and splashing down on to the floor. The blood then crawled across the floor as if it were alive. It stopped next to Johann who hadn't moved through this who ordeal and reformed into Victoria who didn't look any worse for wear.

Wufei's sword had bounced off the mass of shadows. Relena lucked out. Trowa's bullet had barely missed her ear.

Well, now they had Quatre's flesh back but now what?

**XXXX**

Several hours and negotiating with Victoria later, Quatre had his arm back.

Well, really it was Dorothy negotiating with her clan elder. It was after the third failed attempt of getting Victoria to be agreeable that we begged for her help.

So now we owe Dorothy. Why do I feel like we made a deal with the devil?

Well at least she's a minor devil compared to everything else we have yet to deal with. She also managed to get Relena her mouth back. That one she did herself. Apparently remaking an entire arm was out of her league. That doesn't surprise me. Deathscythe had already told me she was roughly 100 years old. Strong, yeah, but still learning her clan's powers.

The moment we got Q-ball fixed, we left. Back to my apartment we go.

By the time we got back, it was nearing dawn. The curtains were already closed and the blankets were still strewn about my living room. Quat. Tro, and Wu made a beeline for the couch and settled in. I was surprised to see Trowa with his back against the arm of the couch and Quatre cuddled up to his chest. I was even more surprised to see Wufei curled up against Quatre. They were a mess of limbs, touching Q and reassuring themselves that he was fine. Moments to dawn and they were buried under a pile of wool blankets.

One tired Heero dragged me up to my bedroom. He threw the covers open and crawled in, beckoning me to follow.

Hell, why not? I was exhausted from all of this myself. I crawled in and curled up to him as he pulled the blankets over our heads. I felt his arms slip around me and one of his hands wrapped itself up in my braid.

I felt him die with the sunrise just as I slipped off into dreamland.

Hopefully tomorrow night will be a quiet night.

**XXXXX**

**Glossary Time!**

**_Convention of Thorns:_** was an agreement between leaders of the Camarilla, the Anarchs and the Assamite clan made on October 23, 1493. Its name comes from the location of the meeting: the Abbey of the Sacred Crown near the small village of Thorns outside Silchester in England. It marked the end of open conflict between the three groups, and more specifically an end to the first Anarch Revolt

**_Anarchs:_** a sect of vampires that exists both within and on the fringes of Camarilla society. Its members are interested in tearing down the social order upheld by the Camarilla, believing it to unfairly defend the interest and status of a select number of older Cainites at the expense of the greater majority.

**_Diablerie:_** the act of diablerie, also called the Amaranth, involves one vampire draining another vampire of blood and then devouring their soul. Most consider it a heinous act, akin to cannibalism.

**_Neonate:_** a freshly Embraced vampire.

**_Tremere:_** Warlocks,Wizards,MagesUpsurs. One of the youngest vampire clans, having just come into existence during the dark ages. In the little time since then they have made incredible inroads within vampiric society and are arguably the most powerful clan in the modern nights. This is due in no small part to their strict heirarchy, secretive nature, and mastery of Thaumaturgy, all of which elicit suspicion, fear, and respect from other Cainites. The Warlocks stand as a pillar of the Camarilla and are one its main defenders, despite the fact that they exist almost as a subsect. Some even go so far as to consider themselves the evolution of vampirism, citing their extreme versatility of blood magic and lack of a true clan curse.


	6. Bad Night at Elysium

Hey my wonderful readers! Here's another update for you!

I guess I should give you a slight waring now. I'm a college student faced with the start of the semester come monday 1/14/07. I'm not sure how that will affect my writing and update time, so please bare with me if it takes me a few days to get a chapter out. I hope that wont discourage people from reading this wonderful fic!

Also, here's a minor plug for a story I'm beta-ing. If you like CSI stories, please check out ArtemisEmerald's profile. She's currently writing a great one and posting when I post. It's sort of her way of giving me inscentive to post often

Well, hope you enjoy this next chapter of Duo Maxwell, Gun for Hire!

Disclaimer: Dont own GW or VTM/WOD. I do own the concept behind Duo's necro-senses!

**XXXX**

Groan. Grumble.

So warm. Five more minutes… please?

There was a gentle tug on my braid and the sound of a distant murmur.

I grumbled and ignored them. I wasn't about to get up. I was comfy. Leave me alone.

"Duo, time to get up."

I buried my head into my pillow. I dun wanna…

Yank. Yelp.

Damn it! Whose bright idea was it to turn on the lights and yank the covers off? I was gonna kill them… Again.

I glared up at Heero who was standing over me with a satisfied smirk. He had the covers in his hands. Damn him.

I glanced over at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was 5:40 PM. Well at least I got a decent days sleep. You know it's sort of sad that I say that. Aren't human's supposed to be day creatures? I mean, seriously. Come on.

"Welcome to the waking world Duo. Now how about breakfast?"

Great, I created a monster. One that likes eating my food. Me grumpy? Perish the thought. Yeah so I'm not a morning… err… afternoon person.

I grabbed the blanket away from him and wrapped it around my self and rolled over. "Eat whatever you want. Wake me up when the three love birds on the couch wake up." That should by me about another half an hour or so I think.

There was the sound of an annoyed "Hn." Followed by the sound of an annoyed Gangrel leaving. Good. Back to sleep for me.

I started to drift off again when the sound of clinking pans reached my ears. I ignored it. Then there was the sound of clinking glass. I ignored that. Then there was the sound of a roaring lion. It's hard to ignore that. I yelped as I practically jumped out of bed and raced down stairs.

If I wasn't annoyed before, I was now. Heero was standing there, leaning against the cupboard with a glass of orange juice and two discarded frying pans on the counter. He just calmly looked at me and sipped his drink.

I could take three guesses at what he was doing before and the first two don't count.

"What the hell is the big idea? I was trying to sleep!"

"Hn."

"What do you mean so what? That doesn't mean you should try whatever to wake me up. What if you accidentally summoned a lion or something huh? How would I explain that to the landlord?"

"Hn."

"Gah! I give up. I'm awake, happy?"

"Hn."

I glared at him as I wrenched open the fridge door and started digging for something to eat. If he insisted I be up I might as well cook something to eat.

**XXXX**

A half an hour and a few eggs and bacon later, the couch trio woke up. Right on time.

There was the sound of shifting and some groaning coming from under the pile of blankets.

Heero and I watched them from where we were leaning against the half wall. Okay so my bad mood didn't stick. Especially when we were given after dinner entertainment like this.

A foot slipped out from under the covers only to be pulled back in. More blankets shifted. A hand yanked up a blanket that was falling off of them. There was a glimpse of blonde and then the sound of moaning. Where's a video camera when you need one?

This went on for over ten more minutes before Heero and I decided that they've had enough fun.

"Shall we?" I motioned to the blanketed mass.

A curt nod. "It only seems fair."

We crept over and reached for the blankets.

"One."

"Two"

"THREE!"

We yanked off the blankets and started to laugh. Okay so I started to laugh. Heero had a smirk on his face.

All three of them had messed up hair, various missing items of clothing and flushed looks. My guess is intense make out sessions and heavy petting. All centered around Q-bean.

Quatre had the decency to looked embarrassed at getting caught. Wufei gave us this 'I'm going to kill you in a very unpleasant way and then put you back together so I can to it again' glare. Trowa looked amused.

"So who's the top and who's the bottoms? Or do you take turns?"

Growl. "Maxwell. Start running."

I laughed as I saw Wufei reach for his katana. Let the chase begin.

Upstairs, dodge, taunt, downstairs, over the counter, duck, dodge again. Ooh! Close one!

I was diving behind whoever was nearest, and sticking my tongue out over their shoulders and taunting Wu-bear.

Several blade marks in my wall later it ended. I was hiding behind Heero when he decided to end it.

"That's enough Chang."

"No it isn't, Maxwell's still got his braid. Move Yuy."

Shink. "Chang, That's enough."

Grumble and the slide of a blade into its sheathe. "Fine. Sword against claws are never good odds."

I was staring wide eyed at the claws that Heero made appear out of his hands. That was a Gangrel only thing. I think I'll stay right where I am. Those look sharp. And pointy. And dangerous.

A few moments after Wufei put away his sharp pointy object of bodily harm, Heero's claws melded back into his hands. There was no evidence that he had ever had them.

After that, we all got ready for yet another night of Kindred antics. Why did I take this job?

**XXXXXX**

So back to Elysium we go. Unfortunately it's my job to be here and baby sit.

By now everyone's gotten used to my little rag tag group of helpers. Which I guess is a good thing. The sad part is it only took four or five days.

Heero and I settled into a booth near the bar while the other three disappeared to who knows where. Well, Okay. I can see Trowa at the bar talking to that Cathy chick.

Quatre somehow got lost in the crowd. How do you loose someone who has bright blond hair? Well, apparently it's possible.

Wufei had spotted Une and went off to talk to her. Don't know what about and somehow I don't think I want to know.

For a while things remained quiet. That didn't last long. An argument had started up between Hilde, and to my surprise, Milliardo.

From here I couldn't make out what they were saying, but Hilde seemed to be upset and Milliardo just looked annoyed. Poor Noin was trying to do her best to calm down the angry Malkavian.

"Hilde wants answers."

What the hell! I jumped right onto Heero's lap as a woman's voice came right out of nowhere. It sounded almost well, distant. Like the speaker wasn't all there.

It took me a moment to realize who was sitting there. Can you blame me? The last two times I was here I barely saw her. And the last time she was throwing bottles at us. Yeah, It was Relena. She appeared out of nowhere.

It took me a few moments to calm my racing heart. Not that I was in a hurry to move mind you. I was perfectly comfortable in Heero's lap with his arms around my waist.

Relena was sitting there with her elbows on the table and her head supported on left palm with a sucker stick hanging out of her mouth. I idly noted that she was wearing this Goth like shirt with extra long sleeves that were attached by fishnet to the shoulders and a hood. The entire shirt was black with what I think looked like blood red ribbons or belt or something criss crossing everywhere. Her other hand was pulling the sucker out of her mouth. It was red. Was it cherry? It sure didn't smell like it. It smelled almost coppery… like blood. Please tell me it's cherry and not blood. Please? Shit. It was blood wasn't it.

"Answers to what Relena?"

Relena smiled at us. It was this empty, no one's home so please leave a message, kind of smile. It's sort of unnerving.

"We were ask to investigate the Malkavians of the city by our sires. They said that there was one here. We didn't find any. Molly feels like us."

Okay, not really all there. Well, not mentally anyway. Back up, they were sent to investigate another Malkavian? I looked up in confusion at Heero. He shrugged. Wonder if Ms. Off in Space made sense to him because she barely did to me.

"Fine! I'll ask for his help and settle this once and for all!"

That would have been Hilde yelling. And that would be Hilde marching over here. How come I have a feeling the 'him she might be talking about might be me?

"Duo I need your help."

Yeah, I was right. Damn it. I was hoping for a quiet night.

Sigh. "With what Hilde?"

"I need you to settle something once and for all. What is Molly Beckett?"

I blinked. "Toreador, isn't she? That's what I was told she was."

Soft snort. "I highly doubt she is a Toreador."

I shrugged. "Then what do you want me to do about it?"

"Do whatever it is you do and find out her clan, age, whatever. I must know."

"Who says I can do any of that?"

"Milliardo and Treize."

Damn it. "Fine. Where is she."?

"Ms. Molly? She's over there," Relena said absently as she waved her sucker over to a far corner.

Sure enough, there was Molly sitting there surrounded by her two ghouls and what looked to be leather bound book.

Another sigh from yours truly. "Alright then. I'll get to the bottom of this."

Well, there goes my comfy spot. Such a nice spot too.

I made my way over to where Ms. Beckett was seated and stopped before her table. "Ms. Beckett? We seem to have a problem here, mind if I solve it?"

She looked up from this ancient looking book. If I wasn't mistaken, that was Latin written on those pages. Interesting. Not many people read Latin now days. "What's the problem Mr. Maxwell?" She removed her wire-rimmed glasses and rubbed her eyes.

"Well, you see, there seems to be this dispute over what clan you actually are. So would you mind if I checked? It's harmless, I promise." I gave her this good ole boy smile.

She seemed to tense up with each word I said. "Is that so?"

I nodded, the good ole boy smile still plastered on my face. Deathscythe was whispering that she was going to bolt. Her ghouls looked uneasy as they tried to move out of her way.

A moment later I felt someone shove me out of the way and felt the back draft of someone moving very, very fast past me. Okay, wasn't suspecting that.

Heero caught me before I could completely fall to the ground. Good thing to because the last thing I needed was a sore ass. Well, at least not from hitting the floor with it.

Shouts of "Someone stop her!" rang out.

Before anyone could react, I felt Deathscythe stir. It felt like it swirled around me for a moment and then took off like a shot after Molly. I could have sworn I saw the shadowly figure of a greyhound or a cheetah or something dash after her.

I watched in morbid fascination as the figure crashed into the fleeing kindred and sent her crashing to the floor as it disappeared into her. She screamed as she curled into herself on the floor. Her ghoulettes rushed to her side, calling out to her in French as she wailed and cried.

I moved to stand on my own instead of half standing in Heero's arms and started to head over to her.

People moved out of my way as I moved closer. Everyone seemed to be giving me a wide berth and when I got there I could see why.

Molly was in the fetal position on the floor with her ghoulettes trying to get near her. They were failing. Molly was surrounded with swirling purple shadows that looked to be tearing her aura apart.

That was because Deathscythe was tearing her aura apart.

Whispered questions of 'What's going on?' could be heard everywhere.

I felt Heero come to stand behind me, just a little off to my left and knew that the others were slowly making their way to the center of the action as well.

Personally, I wasn't quite sure what my power was doing. It sure as hell was doing something. Her aura was practically visible to everyone and was slowly changing, reconstructing itself. I couldn't help but stare. In all of my 122 years of life, I have never seen my power do anything like this. Yeah, it's always told me ages, generation and even clan. But that's basic stuff you know? This was something on a whole new level. I just didn't know what level that was.

Then, to everyone's shock and horror, her body began to shift and change. She became shorter, her body more curvy and her hair went from black to a reddish brown. Her facial structure completely shifted into that of someone that looked about 19 years old and gorgeous. She had flawless pale skin, long legs, and a perfect body. If I'm not mistaken, it was all-natural. Her clothes didn't fit her any more. The pants were practically falling off of her waist and the shirt hung off her shoulders, though her ample chest remained covered.

This was Molly Beckett? What the hell just happened? I felt something brush my hand and then Deathscythe returned to me. Oh. Shit.

My eyes widened as I stared down at the girl who was huddled on the floor. Her name was Sadie Dulamain. She was the disinherited daughter of a New Zealand business tycoon. She had been kindred for nearly 10 years. She was young and still learning. Her sire died right in front of her eyes in a Sabbat attack. The woman that was her sire was named Mara Delacroix. She was the one that gave her that engagement ring the night before the attack. In that same attack, Sadie was left a blubbering, child-like mess for weeks before snapping out of it. She then got her revenge by killing off the prince of the city. Another Malkavian that had cared for her. She was nearly killed for that offence but instead was shown mercy by her victim's sire that felt she was useful. He had a Tzimisce change her appearance and then dominated her into being Molly Beckett. She had been a sleeper spy.

She stared up at me fearfully as her two ghoulettes held her between them. I was dazed. There was more to this and I knew it. I knew everything.

"What the hell."

That would be Wu-bear snapping me out of my daze. I shook my head and tugged on my own braid. "Man, this is fucked up. That is the only way to describe this."

"For once, I have to agree with you Mr. Maxwell."

When did Treize get here? I turned to the Ventrue and nodded. "Do you know who she is then?"

He nodded. "Yes. Sadie Dulamain. She is the childer of Mara Delacroix and grand childer of Jean Pierre of clan Malkavian. She was convicted of the murder of the Prince of a city in the north only to disappear before her death sentence could be carried out. The current Ventrue Prince of that city had asked for any of his clan mates that had spotted her to report back to him. They still want her head apparently."

Sadie whimpered and clung to Ree as Mar stroked her hair. "Please, leave her alone. She's all we got."

Ree was already pleading for her Mistress's life. I winced slightly as my power stirred again. Deathscythe had tasted her. It wanted her. I tried to squash that urge as I turned away from them and stepped closer to Heero. I leaned my head against his shoulder and felt his arms slip around me. What the hell am I supposed to do?

"That was an interesting show. You managed to reverse a Tzimisce's handy work. That's no small feat." The clapping of hands echoed through the hushed room.

I suppressed the urge to groan. That's just what I needed, her to complicate things.

Heero growled. "Go away Victoria."

"Is that any way to talk to your betters, beast? How about I turn you into the animal you really are? Or do you want to pretend to have a shred of humanity left?"

I could feel Heero tense. I winced. That was a pretty sharp barb she aimed at him.

"I would rather be a beast than a soulless fiend."

I could practically feel the shadows start to condense around us. Not again. Please, not again.

Deathscythe stirred as I mentally begged for the fight that was practically on the horizon to stop.

Heero moved me off of him and stood in front of me, facing Victoria.

The undead Fiend was smiling at Heero as the shadows around her feet condensed. She had already proven she had mastery of long-range flesh molding abilities. That was something that she should not have been able to do.

"Will you two please stop fighting? The last thing we need is another incident like last night."

I was surprised to find Dorothy standing near Sadie and her ghoulettes. I have no clue where she came from, but for once, I was glad she was there.

Victoria turned her attention to Dorothy and practically sneered. "Why would I want to listen to a Sabbat child?"

To her credit, Dorothy didn't rise to the bait. " You might want to listen Ms. Winter. I am about to tell you the name of the Bishop that is arriving later this evening."

Okay, that was a showstopper. Well for anyone that didn't know anyway.

Victoria seemed to think for a moment before nodding. She dismissed her shadows and turned her back on us before walking away. The crowd parted for her as she made her way to the bar where her usual companion was waiting.

Dorothy watched her leave before clearing her throat. Heero watched her warily as he stayed on guard. Apparently he didn't trust Victoria anymore than I did.

"His Excellency Bishop Darcy will be arriving tonight around 2 am. That's six hours from now. Do whatever it is you need to do to prepare for his arrival."

I noted that Victoria was scowling and Johann was glaring at Dorothy after she had finished her announcement. I'm guessing that they've had run ins with this guy before. This should be fun.

**XXXXX**

A few hours later found me bored out of my skull. No surprise there. After the announcement, the crowd dispersed and Noin coaxed Sadie and her girls off to another part of the room so she could talk to them. Apparently Milliardo decided to grant her amnesty and is allowing her to stay in this city. Don't know if he's allowed to do that, but hey, it's his political system, not mine.

"Relax. You're too tense."

This coming from a walking guard dog. "Well, at least I'm not the one that was about to pick a fight with a woman that can strip flesh from a distance."

Okay so I wasn't exactly bored. I was stewing. Do you blame me?

"Hn."

I gave him my own version of a death glare and turned to face him. "Yeah, like that will just stop this argument from happening. Think again buddy. Did you learn nothing from last night? Well?"

"Hn."

I growled and stood up from my seat. "Fine. Whatever. See if I care." I tossed my braid over my shoulder and stormed off.

A very annoyed Trowa informed me later that I completely missed Heero's hurt look.

**XXXX**

"Duo, Heero was just trying to protect you."

I blew at my bangs. "Yeah, well, I can take care of myself you know."

"Really? We haven't seen you try yet."

I growled as I looked behind me. I was up on the balcony level of the Marie's Double, leaning against the railing. "Yeah, well, it's hard to try when everyone's jumping in to save my ass before I can blink."

"I see."

"Do you really Trowa?"

"I think so."

"Huh. Well, that makes one of us I guess."

"I guess so."

We remained there in silence for a while. I watched everyone move about on the first floor knowing that none of them would even think of looking up. Not that it mattered any way; I was entitled to go wherever I wanted.

Trowa leaned against the railing beside me and remained silent for a while. We remained like that for a few moments before he opened his mouth again.

"I know how he feels."

I snorted, but kept quiet. Somehow I knew that he needed to say this.

"Before you came along Wufei and I were bound together as much as any two kindred could be. We were brothers and lovers." There was a pause. "Before that I was a mercenary, both in life and in death. Wufei was a scholar and the heir to a prestigious Chinese clan of philosophers. He was even married. He watched her die before he was embraced. His embrace was an accident by a careless neonate that didn't know what he was doing." There was a sigh. "When I first found him the night after his embrace he was lost, alone, and desperate. I bound him to me to save his life. As time wore on, I admit I didn't understand him, or the bond. He nearly died to protect me before I realized how precious he was to me."

I listened. Why was Trowa telling me this?

There was a soft chuckle. "You're wondering why I am telling you this."

I blinked and gave him a startled look.

That got me a laugh out of him. "I do not have the ability some older kindred have to read minds. Your face betrays your thoughts."

Huh, so that's how he did it. He really was that perceptive.

"What I am saying Duo is that Heero realizes how precious you are to him and wants to protect you at all costs. He's just waiting for you to realize the same about him."

I blew at my bangs again. "Yeah, but how much of that is the bond talking and how much of that is real?"

He shrugged. "There really is no way to tell. But in time, they are one in the same."

I snorted and toyed with the end of my braid. "Yeah, but he'll outlive me."

"So? Enjoy what you have Duo."

"Hn."

Laughter. "You and he are good for each other."

**XXXX**

After my little chat with the Tro-man, I wandered the area. I had a lot on my mind. Not always a good thing for a guy like me.

I wasn't watching where I was going when I bumped into someone.

"Hey! Watch it!"

I rubbed my shoulder where I bounced into the solid mass that was in front of me. This man was huge!

I gave him a pleasant, nice-guy don't hurt me smile. "Sorry man wasn't watching where I was going."

"Yeah right. I bet a little shrimp like you is just looking for a beating."

Great, just walking causes trouble for me. "No seriously dude, I'm sorry." I tried backing away from him and moving around.

He wouldn't have any of that. He moved to block my way. "No, I seriously think you need to be taught a lesson."

"You think? I hope you didn't kill off what few brain cells you have left."

Open mouth insert foot. Shit, I'm in trouble.

There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and my head twisted to the side as I fell to the floor. Damn it, I didn't even see that coming. What the hell? I rubbed the side of my face where he had hit me and winced when I tasted blood. The hit had split my lip open. Wonderful.

I grumbled as I reached in my coat for the gun I had holstered there. Thank God for Paranoia. It really will save my life.

I scooted a little ways away from him and rolled over to sit on my ass with a gun pointed at him from the floor. Browning don't fail me now. I clicked the safety off and stared down the barrel at him. "Come on, try that again. I dare ya."

He laughed at me. The damn bastard laughed at me. He didn't think I could hit him. That damn bastard. I glared up at him as I pressed the trigger. A shot rang out, echoing though the room as the guy dusted. I don't care how old you are, a shot to the heart will kill you.

I glared around at the people standing there stunned. "Anyone else wanna try their luck with Mr. Gun? "

There was quick responses or 'No' as people scattered. I clicked the safety back on and holstered the gun before getting up. I gently touched my lip and sighed. That was going to take awhile to heal.

"Smooth move Maxwell."

"Hey, don't talk. You would have removed his head Wu."

"Perhaps, but I would have ended it skillfully at least."

"You mean not from the floor."

There was a soft chuckle. "Exactly."

I sighed as I fell in step besides Wufei. "Alright, so I lack style. I've had a shitty week."

"Haven't we all?"

"Hn."

"How articulate, you're beginning to sound like Heero."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

That got me an amused look.

We walked around the room for a bit, practically doing an entire circuit in silence. It was on our second time passing the bar that Wufei spoke again.

"Heero's been beating himself up since you stormed off. Quatre's sitting with him and making sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

I sighed. I knew he was going to bring Heero up again sooner or later. "So?"

Pause. "I know what Trowa told you."

"Yeah, so?"

"Heero needs you Duo."

"Yeah yeah. Because of the bond."

There was an annoyed grunt coming from Wufei. "You don't get it do you?"

I gave him a sidelong look. "Get what?"

"Duo, You are his world because of the bond. You're killing him by doing this."

I sighed. That's one way to take the wind out of my sails. "Fine… where is he."

Wufei lead me back up to the empty office that we used the night before. Sitting on the couch was Quatre holding a kicked puppy looking Heero. Trowa was leaning against the desk watching them.

Damn I feel like a heel.

Wufei closed the door behind us and leaned against it.

He and Trowa exchanged looks and then stared at me with these eyes that seemed to say 'Well? Aren't you going to do something?'

I shoved my hands in my pockets and hunched my shoulders. I hate apologizing. Seriously, I really hate it.

"Look, I'm sorry." There I said it. Happy?

Heero looked up at me with this tear stained face. I was surprised to note they were actual tear instead of the blood red tears that Vampires were supposed to cry. He stared at me for a few moments before nodding. The next thing I knew I had the arms of a very emotional Gangrel around me with his lips crashing down on mine. My first reaction was to tense up and try to resist. I quickly squashed that notion and relaxed, slipping my arms around his waist as I kissed him back. Somehow, I knew he needed this reassurance that I wasn't mad at him anymore.

The tender moment was broken by a knock at the door. Wufei opened it slightly and talked to whoever was on the other side in hushed whispers. He then shut the door and turned to the rest of us. We were looking at him expectantly.

"That was Noin. The Bishop has arrived."

**XXXXX**

**Glossary**

_**Giovanni-**_ Necromancers, Nigrimancer, Necro-incestuous. The usurpers of clan Cappadocian and the youngest clan of Caine, the Giovanni are both a clan and a family. They Embrace exclusively within their family (one of many things kept within the family), and are heavily focused on two goals: money and (necromantic) power.

_**Bishop- **_An advisory staff member with some political standing. Becoming a Bishop is not easy, it is, however, almost always the stepping stone for getting any higher in Sabbat politics (excluding a few monomacies here and there.) Bishops are known to work with Arch-Bishops in an area, and can sometimes earn the honor of keeping track of important resources, varying from territory to important tasks necessary for the improvment of the Sword of Caine (and one's own standing, of course.)

_**Necromancers and you-**_My wonderful beta ArtemisEmerald suggested I put this here. Please let it be noted that for Duo, everything is originally mine. So here's the thought process for Du's Necro-senses. Necromancers have been around since the beginning if history, or at least since the time of Caine the first kindred. There is only ever one Human necromancer at a time. Which was fine because at the time there were not kindred necromancers. The Giovanni did not exist, instead there was the Cappadocians who studied death, not trying to control it. They were scholars. Anyway, getting back on track. The Human Necromancers lived long lives curtisy of the entity they shared their body with. Most of the necromancers didn't realize that this entity was something more than inborn power they possessed. The few like Mikail figured it out. They tried to either control it similar to what the Giovanni do or learn from it sort of like the Cappadocians did. The ones that tried to control it and use it for their own gain had the shortest life spans of the Necromancers. The ones that tried to learn from it realized that this power of their was a living entity that needed a host body to thrive in. As far as they knew, there was only one of its kind. The one's that figured it out named it. The named has changed through the ages, creating some of the Death myths out in the world. When it's host dies, by either being killed or a natural death, the power goes out into the world, being drawn to its next host. The host can be any newborn born on the day that it's old host died.Duo was that lucky babe. The host may not show any signs of the entity's powers until sometime after their 7th or 8th birthday. And even then it might be something small. The most common thing would be road kill getting up and following them or a dead pet returning from the grave. They're not able to animate people until they're adults. As for the exact powers the entity grants it's hosts, well it varies from host to host. There's the basic reanimantion power, plus a sort of defensive bit like you've seen with Duo and the wind scythe bit. Plus there's being able to tell what clan, generation or age a kindred is. The average Human Necromancer lives about 250 years.

(I hope that gives you more insight on Duo's powers. This is not based off of anything more than my own imagination. So, yeah, I guess you could say this is mine. )


	7. Fight Ring

**XXXX**

We took a few moments to straighten up. Meaning, Heero went and washed away his tears. I guess he wanted to keep his tough guy rep. Yeah, like that wasn't already ruined the moment I drove into town.

We started down stairs with me in the front. Heero was just behind me with Trowa and Wufei basically guarding everyone's favorite blonde. You know, if this was any other situation, I'd think that was almost cute.

The Bishop was easy to spot. He was the only guy I didn't know talking to Milliardo and Treize. Dorothy was there, too. She was practically preening herself for some reason. How come I didn't like the looks of that? From the little I know of that woman, I've figured out this: When she's happy, it means trouble.

It was Dorothy that spotted us as we came down the stairs. She turned to the man that I assumed was the Bishop. This guy looked like he was a perfect poster boy for Creepy Catholics Are Us. Seriously, he was wearing a catholic priest outfit complete with collar. His skin looked like it had been tan at one point. You know, the faded tan from not seeing the sun in centuries. His black hair was pulled back into a ponytail that went past his shoulders. Even though this man looked thing as a rail, I'm willing to bet he could pack one hell of a punch.

Well, we might as well find out what's going on. I plastered a fake smile on my face and led my motley crew over to the party.

"Ah, It's nice to see that you joined us. Bishop Darcy, these were the kindred and… man I was telling you about."

Nice to see the witch is minding her manners. Too bad her claws were already out. I hate politics. Seriously. They are so not my thing.

This Bishop Darcy seemed to look us up and down before focusing on Quatre.

"Quatre Rebarba Winner, why have you not returned to your pack? Have you forgotten your duty to your companions?"

I watched Quatre as this guy talked. Our sweet little Q-bean straightened up and his face grew emotionless. I could swear his eyes became like ice as he stood there between Trowa and Wufei.

That was all I needed to see to realize that this wasn't going to be pretty.

Quatre remained quiet for a few moments before speaking softly. "I no longer felt the need to continue to stay loyal to the pack. Quite simply, the vaulderie was lifted and another was put in its place. I do not need the need to destroy this new bond to go back to the old. I no longer believe in the cause of the Sabbat and would rather not partake in its meaningless existence any more."

The Bishop didn't seem to take that very well. He drew himself up to his full height, a good six-feet at that. He stared down at Q with a scowl on his face.

Then, his attention turned to me. Great, just what I need. A 600-year-old Lasombra that can tentacle rape me. I did not like where this was going.

"This must be Duo Maxwell. I've heard stories about you. Some good, most bad."

Gee, thanks. That was just what I wanted to know. He's heard stories about me. No shit there's stories about me. Hello! Only living necromancer. That sort of screams 'I'm here!' Well, that and 'Hit me! I'm a target!'

"Oh yeah? Did you hear about the one where I reanimated kindred's victims and had them kill their killer? Or what about the story of an entire cemetery coming to life cause I ordered them to?"

Okay, I couldn't help it. Me and my big mouth. Though, to my credit, those are true stories. Of course, they didn't exactly happen like that. Both times were in self-defense! I swear! How was supposed to know that the newly dead in that cemetery would act that way? Seriously, I wasn't doing it on purpose. It just sort of happened. Not that he needed to know that. Let's keep that on the down low shall we? Please?

For the moment, tall dark and creepy seemed to buy the act and didn't say anything more. Dorothy was grinning like the cat that got the canary. I really didn't like that look. Paranoia don't fail me now!

"If you truly want to leave, we can not stop you. However, I will not allow you to leave when this pack clearly needs a leader. Therefore, you are not allowed to leave the pack until someone defeats you in a fight for leadership. A battle to the death."

I winced. Both Trowa and Wufei were giving each other worried looks. This didn't sound good and we all knew it.

Q-ball nodded. "So be it then. Judging by the fact that you already had this planned, who am I fighting?"

Sharp Q.

"Me."

Yeah, I knew nothing good would come of that cat like grin. Dorothy had this planned from the start. I'm willing to bet on it.

**XXXXXX**

"Quatre, you can't seriously be considering the 'to the death' part are you?"

Yeah, that was me being worried. Trowa wasn't saying anything and we were hard pressed to get anything out of Wufei besides mutterings and glares in Dorothy's directs. It's good to know he cares.

There was a tug on my braid. "He has to Duo, or at the least fight her to the point of killing her and then relent."

I sighed. I still didn't like it. Not one bit.

As for Q, he was quiet. He was a little too quiet.

I looked up at Heero as I chewed on the corner of my mouth. Okay so it's a bad habit that I've had since I don't know when. When I nervous I chew on the inside of my mouth. Leave me alone. This was a nervous moment.

Heero gave my braid a reassuring tug and leaned in to kiss my forehead. "He can take care of himself."

I knew that. It still didn't stop me from worrying though.

During my worry session, the Bishop and Dorothy wasted no time setting up the fighting ring. Tables and chairs were moved out of the way to make room. The chairs were used to make the barrier around the ring so no one could get in and help. Like that's going to stop a kindred set on interfering. I didn't even think it would stop me.

"Are the fighters ready?"

Looks like it's show time.

Quatre moved away from us and entered the ring. He stood near us at one end while Dorothy took her sweet time getting in.

"The rules are simple. Only powers and skill or whatever weapons you have on you. You are not allowed to leave the ring or disturb the chairs. First one to kill the other wins."

There was a pregnant pause before the Bishop's voice rang out. "Begin."

Immediately, Quatre enclosed the ring with a dome of shadows that stopped right at the edge of the chairs. No one could see into the darkness. I was just so happy he confined it. Suffocating is not my favorite thing in the world. Far from it.

There was the sound of something hitting flesh. Did Quatre land a blow? Or did Dorothy get a hold on him and repeat what Victoria did? I was sure Dorothy couldn't to the long-range flesh trick. I hoped so anyway.

We stood there tensely as we listened to the sounds of bones cracking and what sounded like boards breaking. What the hell was going on?

As sudden as the shadows appeared, they started to race towards the center of the circle. Soon, Quatre was revealed as the shadows raced past him. He was standing there with his eyes trained on the receding shadows. His clothes were torn. There was blood dripping down his left arm. If I wasn't mistaken, that was a bone sticking out of the ripped shirtsleeve. I wasn't sure, the end of whatever it looked like it had been twisted into a spiral. His hair was a mess.

The shadows stopped two feet from him and started to slowly condense, getting smaller and smaller until it looked like there was resistance. There was a sickening crunch as blood started to pool on the floor around the shadows. The shadows held for a few more moments before they started to unravel.

I was going to be sick. I had to turn away. I felt Heero's hand on my braid as I tried to block out the newest material for my nightmares.

Dorothy… well, there was nothing recognizable of her any more. Her body looked like someone had put her in a car compactor. Her head was twisted at an odd angle and bones were sticking out of places they shouldn't be. She was laying in a pool of her own blood. The worst part was she was still alive. Her eyes gave that away.

The Bishop cleared his throat. "This mean's you're still pack leader Mr. Winner."

Quatre looked at him with those cold eyes of his. "Then send in another challenger."

Shit. He's lost it.

I glanced at Q, attempting to ignore the mess at his feet. She was slowly bleeding to death. I didn't know if a vampire could frenzy in that condition, but I could feel she was moments away from slipping into torpor.

"I'll take the challenge."

Okay, that was unexpected. Mandy, the owner of Cloud Nine, stepped forward. She seemed to have no problem with the mess on the floor in front of Quatre.

The Bishop nodded and motioned for her to enter the ring.

She gracefully vaulted over the chairs. It was something that must have been quite the feat in that knee length business skirt and matching jacket. She calmly slipped off her suit jacket and laid it over a chair before standing there, one hand on her hip with her coal grey eyes starring directly at Quatre.

"I have one condition."

The Bishop gave her an amused look. "Oh?"

"We fight until the other is incapacitated. Not to death. And remove that mess. It will interfere."

The Bishop shrugged as he commanded his own shadow tentacles to remove the mess that was Dorothy. She was cast off to the side where Victoria appeared. She looked amused and interested in Dorothy's mangled form. I was going to be sick. If Victoria was interested, that didn't mean anything good would become of it.

"Begin."

This time shadows didn't encompass the area. Mandy's body seemed to be encompassed by shadows with tentacles coming off her sides. It looked like some sort of armor.

Quatre looked wary as he formed tentacles of his own from his own shadow. His raced towards here trying, to grab her. Her tentacles locked with his, preventing him from getting near her as tentacles raced out of her own shadows towards him.

Q had to drop his concentration as he dodged out of the way. As he dodged, his tentacles unraveled.

That must have been her aim because the next thing anyone could see were all her shadow tentacles racing towards Quatre and grabbing him where ever they could reach. Several wrapped around his arms and legs and torso.

He struggled to get away as she pulled him towards her. Every time he tried to form his own shadow tentacles she would make him loose his concentration somehow. Usually did it by jerking him about or hitting him.

We watched as she pulled him right up to her and then pulled an arm back and punched him. A resounding thwack rang through the room as Quat went limp. She must have used quite a bit of strength to knock him out.

She gently lowered him to the ground before dismissing her shadow armor and tentacles.

She walked over to pick up her jacket and then walked off.

The moment she left Trowa and Wufei were in that ring. Trowa reached Quat first. He checked him over before picking up the small blonde. Wufei was hovering around them as they came back towards us. I already knew that Quat was okay, just knocked out.

The Bishop looked thoughtful as he disappeared into the crowd. He was probably off to find Mandy.

I could care less. We went back up to the empty office on the second level. I swear with how much we're in here we might as well just move in.

Trowa set Quatre down on the little couch in the office and started to examine that arm as he cleaned it up.

I sat on the desk and tried not to look. Yeah, that was bone. That was his arm bone.

"We need a Tzimisce."

Wufei sounded thoughtful as he studied the damage along with Trowa. Heero was beside me watching them.

"The one who did this is unable to help. The only other choice is Victoria."

Why did everything go back to her? Why?

"Or Johann."

I looked up at Heero. Huh? Where did that come from?

"He has the same power she does."

Here did he learn that? I guess I must have looked as confused as I felt.

"Baka. It's in his file."

Oh. I forgot we had his too. Oops.

"Would he be willing to help though?"

"The file stated that he usually has a price for his services. The price varies."

Well, it couldn't be any worse that the Nosferatu's price. So why not?

**XXXXX**

Wufei had gone down to get Johann. About 20 minutes later, he returned with the dark haired Lasombra in tow. They entered the room and shut the door. Wufei move to stand near Quatre as Trowa was kneeling there attempting to make Quatre comfortable. I guess the adrenalin wore off because Quat was in pain now.

Johann studied the scene before nodding. "And the price we asked?"

"Will be paid in full."

There was another nod.

What did Wufei promise this man?

Johann motioned for Trowa to get out of the way. Trowa moved to stand beside Wufei as we all watched. Johann kneeled where Trowa had just been and reached out to grasp Quatre's arm.

He poked and prodded the area a bit before starting to mold the bone back together and then fixing the flesh around it. In moments there wasn't a hint that Quatre had a twisted arm bone.

Johann stood up as Quatre flexed his hand and moved his arm about, making sure it still worked.

"I will be by to collect my payment later. There is no hurry."

He left. What an odd man. I looked over to Wufei. "Fei, what did you promise him?"

Wufei remained silent for a few moments before speaking. "He wanted some books that I have in my possession. It was worth it."

I frowned. He wanted books in payment? Well, I guess that was better than the Nos' payment idea.

**XXXX**

We managed to escape from Elysium early tonight. I guess Milliardo decided to take pity on us. At least, that's what I'd like to think.

So we stopped by Wal-Mart before going home. What? It may be the devil, but where else can you get everything 24 hours a day?

Yeah, Fei and Heero objected to the detour. Quatre could care less. He was wrapped up in Trowa's trenchcoat, hiding the blood on his shirt.

Thankfully I managed to convince the weapons carrying members of our little crew to leave the weapons in the trunk. I'd hate to be the guy that has to review that security tape.

When we finally entered, I made a beeline for the bedroom stuff. I was on a mission people and I was going to succeed.

Success! They had those rollout futon like mattresses. You know those ones that you can roll up, tie together and bring camping or stuff. Yeah those.

I made Fei go get a cart, since he was complaining, and looked around some more. Clearance sale! Jackpot!

I practically grabbed the cart from Wu-man and started loading it. Two of the mattress things, and about three or four comforter sets. Hey, they were on clearance.

"Duo, why are we buying all this?"

I grinned at Quatre. "What, you three like sleeping on the couch everyday? If you three insist on staying, you're getting somewhat proper beds."

That got two startled looks and one amused one. The amused one was Trowa. Take a guess who the other two were. Yeah, Quatre and Wufei.

What? I might not have liked the fact that Wufei didn't ask, but still, I did have a heart you know. It was just usually buried under my libido.

**XXXXXX**

About an hour and many odd looks later, we were hauling everything into the apartment. It took two trips, but hey, it was well worth it.

I left the guys to figure out how to arrange the living room and snuck off to my own bedroom. From my position on the balcony, I could watch everything they were doing.

Wufei and Heero moved the couch to sit in front of the window and the mattresses were spread out along the wall that was now free. They dumped the blankets they had been using and the new ones together and just left them as they threw various pillows into the mix. All and all it looked like someone was building a fort in the living room. It was kind of cute.

The boxes of who knows what from where they used to live were few, but heavy. They stacked those against the half wall.

I yawned and glanced at the bedside clock. It was nearly 4 AM. The sun would be rising soon.

I moved away from the edge and stretched as I started rummaging around for my pj's. I was reaching for my shirt when a hand stopped me. I knew that hand anywhere. That was Heero's. I looked up at him and grinned. "Hey Heero. What gives?"

"Hn."

I should have known he'd say that. "That's not really a response Heero."

He gave me an amused look and tugged at my hand, pulling me out of my reaching pose and closer to him. In moments I was up against his chest.

You know how in a situation like this most people blush? I'm not one of those people. I'm one of those people who get this big ole shit eating grin. Guess what I was doing? Yeah, grinning.

I felt a hand slide under my chin and lift my face up. My violet eyes met his Prussian blue ones and locked. We remained staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity before he moved closer.

My eyes fluttered shut as I felt him place a gentle kiss on my lips. His tongue brushed against the split in my lip and for once, I didn't care that there was a bit of pain. I really didn't. Why would I when Heero was kissing me? Pain was nothing compared to his kisses.

The arm not holding my chin slipped around my waist and pulled me even closer to him. Hello, what do we have here? Either that was a banana in his pocket or he was really, really, happy to see me. God I hope he was really, really happy to see me.

Crash. Swearing. Growl.

The growling was from Heero as he reluctantly broke our kiss.

"Hey Duo? Where do you keep the broom?"

I could have laughed this was so cliché. Instead I sighed and moved to rest my head against Heero's shoulder. I was so close. Damn it. I was so close.

"It's in the coat closet by the door Quatre."

"Okay, thanks."

Heero let out an annoyed growl as he held me. Yeah, I wasn't thrilled with our roomies either.

**XXXXX**

**Glossary Time!**

**_Ghoul:_**Ghouls are a being in between states of existence. A ghoul is a person who drinks the blood of a kindred and who is willed into servitude by that kindred. Ghouls have greater abilities than the average human but, do not have nearly the potential that a vampire does. In order for a Ghoul to retain his power, he must feed regularly on the blood of his master or one of several things may happen. The first thing is that, if he is a new or fairly new Ghoul, he will revert to being a human with little or no consequence. If it is a medium age Ghoul, it will revert back to being a human, but may be mentally scarred by the experience. If the Ghoul is considerably old, he will more than likely die after his supply of vitae runs out. This was a common occurence, due to the fact that if a Ghoul's master dies, he has little hope of catching and feeding from a Kindred and/or finding another master.

_**Sire:**_ is the person who Embraced them, and is thus the vampire's "parent". There is no distinction between male or female sires

_**Childer:**_ is the progeny of a vampire; a mortal being Embraced by a vampire making them a vampire as well

**Character Spotlight!**Here's the part where I tell you about the OC's

Okay so I've had reviewers wonder about some of the original characters in this story. I thought it would be neat to do a character spotlight. Most of the oc's are actually characters I've played either in a Vampires the Masquerade tabletop, or in my local LARP (live action role play) where I'm a narrator. Yeah, I'm a dork. But hey, it's fun. So here's where I tell you where I got them from!

_**Molly Beckett (AKA Sadie Dulamain)**_: Okay, This character has actually had two incarnations. The one that I'm using here is the 'Sadie in Disguise' version. She actually has a very long history. Hey, I played her for a year, it happens. To date she is my longest played character.


	8. Libraries and Fire dont mix

Welcome loyal readers!

Here's the next chapter of Duo Maxwell, gun for hire! Hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Dont own GW or VTM/WOD. Most of the Oc's are based off of characters from previous games played by myself and my friends.

**XXXX**

Morning, or our version of morning at least, found me even more annoyed with our roomies.

Yeah, I was curled up to Heero's chest. It's a very comfortable place to be, trust me on this. Yes, there was fooling around when he woke up. I admit it, I can be a horn dog when I feel up to it and last night didn't help.

Quatre's little interruption last night completely killed the mood and left me frustrated. I was not a happy camper. The sad part is, Q probably doesn't know what he did to make me crabby.

Why do they think I'm crabby? Well let's see. Like five minutes after they killed our mood set, Wufei comes up and states that tomorrow we need to go retrieve those books he promised Johann for his help.

So me being a curious little necromancer had to ask. What were they?

About five minutes of begging and prying he finally shouts it out at me. Right there in the middle of the living room.

The books were some Tremere's journal. What's so special about that? They're vampires that do magic. So?

To my surprise it was Trowa that practically hit me upside the head. He didn't seem happy that Wufei had offered up some guy's journals.

The fact that Trowa was mad struck me as weird. In the short time I've known this guy, I've only seen him extremely pissed or extremely calm. Now he was annoyed.

So I asked Heero what's so special about these journals. He explained to me that the Tremere like to keep records of things. It sounds like these guys were extremely anal-retentive. Journals like what Fei had were bound to hold some random, possibly deadly but cool secrets that they don't want people to know.

So what? If they didn't want people to know about it, they shouldn't have written in down. It's simple as that.

Another twenty minutes later found me driving to the library. Yeah you heard right, the library. Apparently Wu had the bright idea of hiding the books in plain sight. Who would think to look in a library for a book?

**XXXX**

"Okay we're here."

Yeah, that's me. I'm captain obvious tonight. Okay so I still was a little crabby. Yeah, Heero and I did enough to satisfy our selves for the moment. But it was not nearly enough. You can only enjoy hands and mouths for so long before you want more.

"How do we get in?"

That was another point for Captain Obvious. I was on a roll tonight.

There was a long pause before Wufei spoke.

"I don't know."

I turned in my seat to stare at him. He was sitting behind Heero's passenger seat and staring up at the old library building in front of us.

"What do you mean you don't know? How did you get them in there the first time?"

"We persuaded the woman locking up to let us in."

Translation: They used their fun little powers on her to make her do anything they wanted.

"Okay, so why not do it again?"

"Duo, do you see anyone here? The place is dark."

"Then we'll just have to let ourselves in."

That came from Quatre. Now I stared at the small blonde between Tro and Wu. He had this sort of angelic smile on his face that screamed innocent. He was anything but that. This guy had a plan.

We piled out of the car and Q immediately started to head towards the back of the building. The rest of us followed him curiously. What was this boy up to?

He found the back door and stood before it. We saw his shadow condense and slide under the door. A few moments later there was a click and the door opened. The sneaky bastard had used his tentacles of doom to pick the lock and open the door.

"Way to go Q. We didn't know you had it in you to do something this devious."

Quatre smile and shrugged. "If the ends justify the means then why not?"

That made me wonder exactly where Q would draw the line when push comes to shove. I hope I never got to find out.

We entered as quietly as possible. To my surprise it was Heero that took care of the security cameras and alarms. I didn't know he was so computer savvy. Most kindred I know don't even know how to turn on a computer much less hack into one.

After that little bit of looking over Hee-man's shoulder and being amazed, we were in with no problems.

Wufei lead the way towards the older section of the library where it looked like there was a bunch of old stuffy books. The entire place looked stuffy and quiet. It was too quiet for my tastes. Yeah, this place reminded me of a crypt too. I'm seriously beginning to think I have a phobia about crypts. First it was the basement and now here. The only difference is one was dark and dank and this place is dark and dusty.

I decided to glance at some of these old books to find out exactly where in the library we were. The nearest book to me on the shelf looked old and faded. It took me a moment to make out the title. It was a law book? The next one wasn't any better. That one was an old leather bound law book from the 1800's. At least that's what it said. I wasn't about to go pulling it off the shelf to find out.

Wufei was tracing his pointer finger down spines of books as he read the titles softly to himself. He finally stopped at a book called. 'Einstein's Theory of Relativity.'

Wasn't that a physics book? Why was it in an area dominated by law books?

Fei pulled it off the shelf and opened it. That wasn't a book. That was a book shaped box. Well, okay so it was the book with the middle of the pages cut out and two thin, smaller books inside of it. Wufei pulled out the books and shut the library book and placed it back on the shelf. I wonder why no one's ever found that before.

"Lets go."

We started to leave, heading back the way we came in when something came flying at us. I barely managed to duck as it flew past my head. What the hell was that? It took me a few moments to realize that it was a small Greek statue. That could have hurt.

Click. Click. The sound of a sword being drawn. Shink.

I wasn't surprised to see Trowa and Wufei pull out their weapons. I was mildly surprise to see Heero sprout the claws instead of a gun. The one that surprised me the most was Q. He had pulled out a gun. He's just full of surprises tonight.

I couldn't see anyone around. Then I felt Deathscythe stir. There was something undead here. Something that reeked of flames and a laboratory.

Tremere. Deathscythe whispered Tremere. The Vampire Mages.

Looks like this simple retrieval just got complicated.

Something else went flying over our heads. I stayed crouched. It's safer down here.

Deathscythe was stirring. Whatever that Tremere was doing was peeking my powers curiosity. I felt it dash off to the left. It was heading towards several towering shelves of books. My bet is our attacker in over there.

"Hey guys! To the left! Behind the Shelves!" Yes! I was being useful this time.

Gunshots rang out. I could hear them hitting books and winced. The librarians are going to wonder 'what the fuck' when they came back in the morning.

Smoke. I was starting to smell a little bit of smoke. Smoke meant fire. Oh shit.

I felt Deathscythe's power escalate as the sounds of books being torn apart filled the air. The smoke smell was getting worse.

"Guys we need to get out of here. Now."

There was a murmur of agreement as we dashed for the door. The guys still had their weapons drawn and still on guard. They were expecting an ambush. So was I.

We were right. Outside the doors, parked roughly twenty feet away sat a black van. There was a man standing outside of it. He was staring at us. I didn't like that. This man looked like he should be teaching High School. You know those creepy teachers with the glasses that seem to know everything and never let you get away with anything? You know, the ones that are thin as rails with thinning hair and dorky mustaches? He looked like one of those. Complete with the goofy bow tie.

There was a soft growl besides me. Apparently Heero didn't like this either.

Next thing I knew, he had his hands encompassed in flames and was moving extremely fast. I dodged as I felt the inferno that was this guy's fist swing over my head, barely missing me. I could smell singed hair.

I covered my head with my hands as I heard something tearing into flesh. I felt something wet drip on to my hands. Somehow I don't think that was rain.

I scrambled out from under the battle, not too worse for ware. I felt helpless at the moment. Deathscythe hadn't returned yet. Hold on, I have a gun. Damn it. How did I forget about that?

I was cursing myself as I pulled out my trusty gun and swung around. Just in time to see the bastard attacking us catch Heero's cloths on fire. Shit. Fire and Vampires don't mix.

I managed to get one clear shot in the guy causing us trouble before Fei managed to remove his head from his shoulders. The guy dusted.

Heero was on fire. Nasty burns were already appearing on his skin as he continued to attack the spot where the guy was. Shit.

"Heero. Calm down."

"Yuy! Get a hold of yourself!"

He wasn't listening. His eyes were wild and panicky. I doubt he was hearing us.

I stared at him. Yeah, I admit it. I was scared shitless. He was acting like a panicked animal, on fire with those claws out. This didn't look good.

I had my gun aimed at him. I guess I was panicking as well. We all were. We couldn't get near enough to attempt to put out the fire that was slowly consuming him.

Deathscythe. It finally came running back. The Tremere that had been in there with us had set the place on fire before he dusted. Well, shit. As if things weren't bad enough.

"Guys. The place is on fire." Why did I sound so calm? I was panicking, why was I sounding calm? Why aren't I running around screaming my lungs out?

Shadows encompassed the area. I couldn't breathe. This time I didn't have Heero here to give me mouth to mouth.

I felt myself nearly black out before the shadows were lifted.

I looked up to see that the shadows had actually retreated to just enclose Heero, hiding him from sight.

Quatre looked paler than usual and charred. Wufei's clothes were singed and Trowa seemed to be the only one to get out of this ordeal unscathed. Well, besides me.

There was the sound of a body hitting the ground and the shadows unraveled. Heero was there, looking like a burn victim and out cold. I just stared at him in shock. I couldn't tell if he were dead or… well, undead.

Trowa and Wufei put away their weapons and gently picked him up. I could feel Quatre at my side, kneeling down beside me.

"Duo, come on. We need to get him to Sally."

I just nodded as he helped me up and lead me to the car. I couldn't take my eyes off of my newest nightmare. Heero's charred form. I seem to be getting lots of nightmare material lately.

**XXXXX**

We made it to Marie's Double in record time. Quatre had the foresight to call ahead.

Noin and Une were waiting for us at the back entrance.

The rest of what happened was a blur to me. I heard Sally tell Q that I'm in shock. So that's what this is.

Heero had frenzied and was barely alive. Sally tried giving him blood. She said he was healing almost human slow. She blamed it on the lack of blood in his system. Apparently yeah, the food he ate was good for nutrition, but his body still didn't make his own blood. He still needed to drink it. Why is it that the most important discoveries happen at a time where the situation could mean life or death?

Sally ushered me over to a cot and made me sit down. Anne handed me a cup of something. I just held it. She urged me to drink. So I took a sip. It was whiskey. Warm whiskey. Sister Helen used to give us this for our coughs.

"Duo, you look like shit."

I turned to stare up at Quatre. His arm had been bandaged up. It seems like that's the same arm that's been taking all the abuse lately.

"Duo?" I could see that he was concerned about me.

A hand was waved in front of my face. I blinked and looked down to stare at my mug of whiskey.

Sigh. "He'll be fine Duo. Sally said he'd be up and about in a week."

I nodded at I felt him sit down on the cot next to me. Next thing I knew, Quat had his arms around me, holding me as he stroked my braid. I absentmindedly noted that my braid was coming undone. I must have lost the hair tie somewhere.

I leaned against Quat as my eyes started to drift shut.

**XXXXX**

I must have been out for quite awhile cause when I woke up, Heero looked a lot better.

It wasn't long before Sally came over to me and gave me a quick check over. I guess she didn't get a chance to last night, I don't really remember.

"Heero should be waking up any time. Now."

I nodded. "How long was I out?"

Sally paused for a moment. "Nearly a week. It's the same for Heero."

I blinked. We were both out of a week? What the hell? To say that shocked me out of my little angst driven world is an understatement.

"How do you know Heero will wake up soon then?"

Sally just smiled. "Because you just woke up."

**XXXX**

Sure enough he did. We only had to wait an hour. The moment Heero started moving Sally was over there. She was checking him over. She even pried his eyelids open to see if his pupils were dilating correctly. That's when she gasped.

I quickly stood up. Yeah, I wasn't very steady on my feet but hey; I managed to make it over there. I tried looking over her shoulder to see what was the matter.

Sally let his eyes close as he groaned. I looked up at her. "What's wrong?"

"When a Gangrel frenzies, they tend to gain some animal characteristics. From what I understand, it can be anything in the animal kingdom. I've seen Gangrel with scales, exoskeletons, and retractable claws. This is the first time I've seen something happen with the eyes." She paused there. "Heero's gained cat like eyes with the extra eyelids typically found in a cat."

Okay? So he has cat eyes, what's the big deal? I looked down at him as he opened his eyes. His pupils were slit like a cats and right now were nothing but thin little slits with his eyes being nothing but a blue iris. It looked kind of cool.

"Heero can you hear me?" Sally snapped her fingers near his left ear.

Heero just stared up at us and didn't respond. A few moments later he was looked back and forth between us. I could see confusion in his eyes and a little bit of panic. Why was he panicking? Was something hurting?

"Heero, buddy, what's wrong?"

The confusion and panic seem to grow as he reached out and touched my lips. Any other time I would have found this romantic and touching. This wasn't one of those times.

"I was afraid of this the moment I say his eyes."

I turned to look at Sally. "What? What's wrong?"

She sighed as rubbed her eyes. "In cat's it's a common trait for a cat with blue eyes to also be deaf."

I froze. Heero was deaf? What the hell?

I turned to look down at him. He seemed to have realized what was going on. His eyes closed and he sighed. What were we going to do now?

Trowa, Quatre and Wufei chose then to walk into the mini vampire clinic.

"How are they doing Ms. Po?"

There goes Quat being polite again. Some things never change.

Sally smiled at him. "Duo's fine, just a little shook up. I imagine his nap helped that, right Duo?"

I just nodded. "Yeah, it helped." Okay so I sounded a little lost even to myself. Do you blame me?

Quatre seemed to suspect something was up because he glanced to Trowa and then Wufei.

"And what about Heero?"

This time it was Wu-man asking.

"He's healing fine, one more night and a little more blood should do it. However, his clan flaw has taken effect. He has cat eyes and the problems that go with them. Including deafness that sometimes accompanies blue eyes in cats."

All three of them exchanged looks. "What about his clan's discipline? Will that help him?"

Discipline? Is that another word for the odd powers they all have? Okay, I'll be the first to admit that really, I don't know everything about these guys. I barely know anything really. I only know what I've gleaned with my interaction with them. Hell, I wouldn't have known that they existed if they hadn't contacted me after I accidentally raised my first human zombie when I was 14. That was a nightmare.

Sally shook her head. "That might give him a little hearing back, but I doubt it."

"Could a Tzimisce fix it?"

Sally shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

All four of us stared down at Heero. Dealing with enemies and other kindred we can do. But how are we supposed to deal with this?

**XXX**

**Glossary time!**

**_Torpor:_** refers to the state of deep slumber that vampires enter into for prolonged periods of time. Torpor may be entered into voluntarily, such as when one seeks to escape the monotony of eternal life and awaken in a different age, or, more commonly, involuntarily when a vampire starves, is staked, or suffers damage sufficient to kill a mortal. The amount of time one spends in torpor depends on the reason for hibernating and the vampire's strength against the Beast

**_Frenzy:_** frenzy is when the Beast takes over the vampire's personality, usually a result of extreme stress such as starvation or public humiliation. In Vampire the term only applies to the "fight" half of the "fight-or-flight" response, though Rötschreck (the "flight" half) is a similar experience in many respects. The primary purpose of the frenzy is to kill or otherwise neutralize the stimulus responsible for it, so a vampire driven to frenzy will attempt to feed on anything she can catch whereas a character entering frenzy in combat will attempt to kill all nearby combatants. The Kindred of the Camarilla consider frenzy dangerous, bestial and a sign of weak will and try to avoid it whenever possible. Sabbat vampires may resist or embrace frenzy (or "ride the wave") depending on their Path of Enlightenment.

_**Discipline:**_ is the term used for one of the supernatural powers of Cainites. The origin of the Disciplines is unknown, but many believe they are gifts from Caine or Lilith, and a few Antediluvians are thought to have invented unique Disciplines that have been passed down through their childer. There are seventeen "main" Disciplines that are well known and relatively common, but there are also a variety of much rarer Disciplines practiced by bloodlines and thin-blooded vampires.

**Character Spotlights!**

**_Victoria Winter:_** Vicky has had two previous incarnations. Her first was in a Giovanni Chronicle tabletop I was in a few years back. The most current has been her appearance in larp as a representative of the Camarilla. As you can guess Victoria is really old, and really powerful. Her full age being 563 years old.

**_Johann:_** He actually was a character out of the very same game that created Vicky. He was played by a friend of mine. Needless to say, Johann and Victoria have a unique relationship. He is an opportunist that will, and has played all sides. He's been in the Cam, Sabbat, was an Anarch and now is currently an independent in modern nights. He's roughly the same age as Vicky, give or take a few years. They were embraced at the same time and have known each other since. He also has a very low tolerance for stupid.


	9. More than meets the eye

Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter of this little story!

Disclaimer: Dont own GW or VTM/WOD

**XXX**

It took a few days, but Heero adjusted to the lack of hearing. As for me, I was jumpy. Do you blame me?

Heero rarely speaks now. Yeah, his speech wasn't affected. He just explained it's weird saying something and not being able to hear himself. Plus, not long after realizing his hearing was gone he tried to speak English. I was surprised to learn that English was harder for him to speak with his hearing gone than Japanese was. He explained to me that his parents raised him in the US but they insisted he knew Japanese before they died. It stuck with him apparently.

The problem with that was that none of us knew how to speak Japanese. So Heero just kept quiet and stuck by one us when we went somewhere.

A few days of hiding in my apartment and adjusting, we were ready to face the world again.

So guess where we end up? Yeah, you guessed it. Elysium again. Where else did you think we'd be heading? Just because I got to sleep for a week, doesn't mean the moment I'm better I don't have to go back. I'm just happy Milliardo let me take two extra days off. I guess Cathy was keeping order well enough in my absence.

**XXXX**

"Welcome back Mr. Maxwell."

Figures I couldn't walk in without encountering my so-called boss. I gave him a fake smile. "Hey, I hope everything's been quiet while I was out."

Milliardo gave me a slight smile. "As a matter of fact…" His smile dropped as he moved in closer. I felt a hand wrap around my braid and knew Heero was standing behind me.

"In your absence, I've had several complaints by the Tremere of this city. They finally decided to show some interest in something outside of their chantry. I've also had to help Cathy do your job. You better not miss any more night's here Mr. Maxwell or we will have to have a talk."

Well if that didn't sound ominous. That's just what I needed, the Prince to be breathing down my neck. As if things weren't bad already.

When we finally got away from Blondie, we headed into the main part of the Club. Heero still had his hands on my braid and Trowa and Wufei were flanking Quatre. While I was still on my mini vacation, Quat filled me in on what had been happening in the last week.

After Mandy took control of the Sabbat Pack, she cleaned house. She had the Bishops blessing of course. For some reason, she approached Quatre and offered him the position of leader of the Independents in the city. This included ownership of Cloud Nine. He accepted.

I didn't like what I was seeing when I looked around. Mandy and her pack were sitting in a dark corner, just watching what was taking place. Dorothy was with them even. I guess Victoria was able to fix her. Damn.

And speaking of the Fiend, Victoria was standing near the bar with Johann. I wonder if Fei ever got him his books. I don't remember if Q ever mentioned that or not.

I could hear her voice over the crowd. God did it carry. I sighed and took a deep breath. She wasn't doing anything wrong now, but I knew that could change at any moment.

Deathscythe stirred. It seemed to be hesitant and wanting to retreat as we moved past to another one of my personal nightmares.

I hoped she didn't see us as we went though. Shit. No such luck. She spotted us.

Victoria smirked as she watched us come near.

You know, I wonder if that was her natural beauty of if she crafted it herself. Tzimisce's are the plastic surgeons of the Kindred world. Only minus the plastic, or the antiseptic.

"Ah, Mr. Maxwell. I'm glad to see that you're up and about. It must have been quite the fight to knock you out for so long and burn a valuable resource of this city to the ground."

Ouch. Now that was a low blow. "Well, at least when I cause destruction its on a grand scale and not just terrorizing innocent people."

I winced as her expression darkened slightly. Yeah, I did it again. I could feel Deathscythe become uneasy. I was in for a world of hurt now.

"Stop being stupid Victoria. You're acting like a child."

Okay, I know I looked surprised. Johann was the one that spoke.

Victoria turned to her companion and gave him an annoyed look. "I'm only having a spot of fun you know. I don't get to stay in one place anymore and you know it."

"Your fault for being Camarilla. Not mine."

"Like you're any better off."

"At least I can come and go when I please. I'm not limited to the will of the Camarilla."

I'm guessing this was an on going argument between these two. I guess it's not surprising if those files were right, they've known each other for an eternity.

I glanced behind me to Heero and the rest. Quatre shrugged. I guess he didn't know what do to about this either.

"Perhaps we should walk away and leave those two elders to their own bickering."

Yeah, That made sense, thanks Trowa.

"Okay then. Lets get out of here before they decide to do something nasty again."

We headed off to our own part of the club and sat down. Heero was basically glued to my side as the other guys sat around us. We were quiet for a bit before Wufei spoke up.

"You know, that apartment of yours is getting cramped Duo."

"Well what do you want me to do about it?"

"Cloud Nine has living quarters. We can make it our new headquarters as it were."

"It would also give us ready available feeding. For all of us."

That would be Wu, Quat and Tro making one interesting argument. If we did this, I'd loose the coziness that was my apartment. But then again, no roommates means bedroom time. I like the idea of that.

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

Heero frowned a bit and tugged on my braid. He murmured something in Japanese and sighed.

Somehow I got the feeling that he wasn't comfortable here. His eyes were half closed, nearly hiding his blue cat eyes.

I think the lights were getting to him. Sally warned us that cat's eyes were meant to see in dim light and actually had a limited range of vision in full light. Elysium was nothing but shadows and bright lights.

Trowa seemed to get the idea too. He moved out of Heero's way and let him out of the circular booth we were sitting in. I watched as Heero slinked off into the shadows. I was worried about him. He hasn't been the same since he woke up. It worried me. A lot.

**XXX**

I sat here for a while waiting for Heero to come back. For my entertainment, I got to watch Tro, Quat and Wu flirt. You know it's kind of cute in it's own way.

Then movement caught my eye. I looked up to catch a peculiar sight. Relena was waltzing around by herself. The girl looked like she was heading our way with every twirl. When she got closer, we could hear her singing. You know, she doesn't have a bad voice really. She came to a stop before us and gave us a smile before bowing. Her clothes tonight looked similar to the last time I saw her. She had on a pair of torn jeans and a gothic type top. This one was a simple tank top with a fishnet shirt over it. Only the fishnet was neon pink. It kind of hurt the eyes.

She stood there for a moment sucking on some sort of sucker before dashing off into the crowd. She was an odd one. A real odd one.

"Are all Malkavians like that?"

"No, not all of them. Take Hilde for example, she's really intelligent. She's also somewhat of a historian."

There goes Quat, answering all my questions. Sometimes I think he just sits around and waits for me to ask something out loud so he can answer it.

"So whatever happened to the books?"

All three of them fell silent. I didn't take that as a good sign. No, that wasn't a good sign at all.

"We'll tell you later Maxwell."

Okay? Something wasn't right here. Earlier Quatre was practically chatting my ear off about what I had been missing and now not only him, but also everyone else was quiet as well. What the hell?

"Please, what did happen to my books?"

When did he get here? Johann was standing before our booth, blocking any way out. "I haven't gotten them yet. I hope there isn't any problems?"

Wufei looked a little uneasy. Both Trowa and Quatre looked neutral. I was curious. What the hell was going on?

"No, of course not. I will get them to you in due time. Just be patient."

Our dear friend Johann didn't seem to like that answer. The shadows were condensing around us as a little tentacle slithered out of his sleeve.

"You'll find Mr. Chang that I am a very patient man. However, I have places to be so those books better be in my possession soon. The sooner the better for you."

"Of course, I'll get them to you as soon as possible."

"Good. I will be back to remind you later."

I watched as he walked off. Between him and Victoria, I don't know which one is the bigger nightmare. They're both scary in their own way. He was mafia scary and she was monster scary.

**XXXXX**

Several minutes after making sure the Johann the Scary was out of sight, I had to ask.

"Alright Wu-man, where are the books and why haven't you given them to Mr. Tall Dark and Deadly yet?"

Wu just looked to Quatre who looked a little uneasy. The fact that Fei didn't yell at me for the nickname let me know this was serious. Real serious.

"How about we retreat to the office. It should be safer to talk up there."

Trowa's suggestion made sense I guess. But, what about Heero?

"What if Heero comes back?"

"Maxwell, Yuy is a big boy. He'll find us."

I guess Wu was right. Heero was fine before I came along, right? He should be fine now. That doesn't stop me from worrying. Me? A worrywart? You better believe it.

**XXX**

I settled down on my usual seat at the end of the small couch. Quatre sat at the desk while Trowa leaned against the door. Looks like he was taking up position of guard dog. Wufei paused for a moment before pulling the books from the desk drawers to Quat's left.

"As you know, I thought these books were just some Tremere's journals." Wufei paused and set them down in front of Quatre. "I didn't know what language they were written in. I was surprised to find out Quatre did and that he could read it."

Okay, they've got my full-undivided attention. "So what is it?"

Quatre traced his fingertips over the leather covers of the books in front of him before answering. "They're written in Aramaic, a language I was taught growing up."

"What puzzles me is why a Tremere wrote his journal's in Aramaic."

It was Quatre who smiled at Wufei's question. "The books were written in the Dark Ages. My guess is that who ever wrote these came from the Middle East or spent time there."

I tilted my head to the side as I played with the end of my braid. "Why do you think that Q?" Okay that was probably a very stupid question on my part, but hey, it's not like I know this stuff. Between him and Wu, we have a walking library at our disposal. We might as well use it.

Quat gave me an amused look. "Well, for one, Aramaic is a group of languages that have existed for over 3,000 years. In fact, it was the language spoken around the time of Jesus Christ. Not surprisingly, parts of the bible were even written in Aramaic. Today, the language is still used, but on the decline. When I was mortal, my tribe spoke it fluently." He laughed softly. "I guess it would surprise you to learn that English is not my first, or even my second language."

"That would imply that you were born in the Middle East."

Quatre nodded. "Yes. More specifically in the desert sands of Saudi Arabia."

Okay that blew my mind. I wouldn't have pegged our little Blonde haired, blue-eyed Q-bean as being Arabian. Aren't they supposed to have more of a tanned skin tone than Quatre's fair skin? And what about the blonde hair and the blue eyes? I just had to ask.

"Quat? Then how come you have blonde hair and blue eyes? It doesn't make sense."

That got a laugh out of him. "Duo, don't always judge by what you see. Centuries ago a beautiful blonde haired woman came to my tribe. The story goes that she was foreigner who had gotten separated from her caravan during one of the sandstorms. During her stay, she fell in love with the chief of the tribe at the time and married him. She was his first, and only wife. The story states that they loved each other so much that when they died, Allah rewarded them by creating an oasis around their graves to forever provide for their descendants."

"Let me guess, your one of those descendants?"

Quatre nodded. "Yes. Blonde hair and blue eyes show up every few generations."

Alright, now that we knew a bit more about Quatre's past, I guess it's time to get back to the thing at hand. "Alright, now what about the books? What do they say?"

With that Quatre grew a little uneasy. I caught Trowa tensing a little and so was Wufei. Alright, what'd I miss? There's just something not right here.

"Well, they are journals. But, they're not exactly what Wufei thought they were."

"And what did Wu-man think they were."

"Maxwell…" there was slight grumbling from my katana wielding friend before finally fessing up. "I thought they were some neonate Tremere's journals that they carelessly lost."

"I'm guessing they're not that."

Wufei gave me an annoyed look. "No, they're not."

"They happen to be a pair of books written by a decently powered Tremere back in the Dark Ages. They talk about experiments in gruesome detail."

Thank you Trowa. At least someone around here is straight to the point. Now what exactly did this mean anyway? So they have some icky experiments in them, isn't that what the blood sucking mages do? What's the big deal?

"Okay… so?"

"We fear they might be to dangerous to hand over to Johann."

Thanks again Trowa! It's obvious that whatever was in those books was upsetting Wufei. I don't think I want to know what.

I guess something finally snapped because Fei started to pace the room muttering in Chinese. I only caught one or two English words in the entire thing. He was ranting about some sort of 'Injustice'. Great, he's gone off the deep end.

Trowa shook his head as he watched Wufei. "When he gets like this, it's best to let him cool down on his own."

Quatre nodded. They both looked uneasy and concerned about Wufei. Okay, so all of us having our own rooms in Cloud Nine is looking like a better and better idea. They looked like they needed alone time with each other just as much as Heero and I do.

Everyone remained silent for a bit as Wu ranted. Finally it was Quatre that broke it. "What worries me is that the Tremere may try again, unless we hand them over to Johann and let him deal with them."

I frowned a little as I tugged on my own braid. That made me think about Heero. Where was he? "Hey guys, how long has Heero been gone?"

Trowa was the one that answered me. "Nearly an hour and a half."

That got everyone's attention. We knew that we were in even bigger trouble now because of the books. Heero didn't. What if they decided to take us down one by one? Heero's the easiest to get right now. Damn it. Where the hell was he.

Okay so I'm getting worked up, do you blame me? "We need to find Heero."

Knock. Knock.

We all jumped, yeah-even Quat. Trowa and I exchanged looks before he cracked the door open and peered out. Moments later he was opening it wide and letting Heero in. I sighed in relief. Panic attack over. Thank God.

He gave us all odd looks. I guess he noticed out looks of relief. He turned to me and arched an eyebrow. I just gave him a goofy grin and motioned for him to sit next to me. He nodded. In moments, I was curled up to him with his arms wrapped around me.

There has got to be something we can do about his hearing. I hate having to worry myself sick like that.

Deathscythe stirred.

**XXXXXXXXX**

**Glossary!**

_**Chantry:**_ The name for a Tremere's communal haven

**_Elder:_** is a vampire of both advanced age and status. While there is no strict definition, one normally must be at least a century or two old and far removed from their human past to qualify.

**Character spotlight!**

_**Mandy Welshmen:**_ Surprisingly, This is a character concept that I have yet to play in larp. She exists solely in this story. Now, remember when I said I didn't own her back in chapter 2? Well, the original concept for Mandy was inspired by Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Yeah, that Mandy. Her adult form isn't mine either. The inspiration for Adult Mandy goes solely to Bleedman, the creator of The Grim Tales from Down Below. What I can take credit for is the way I used her in this story. It's not uncommon for larp concepts to be inspired by a character from somewhere. You'd be surprised.


	10. This is so not our night

**XXX**

The move from my little apartment with its overload of junk into Cloud Nine's private suits took a few days. Well, actually, it took Noin and her moving crew one day, and us another day to sort all the boxes out and get them to the right rooms.

In the end, I was amazed by the size of the rooms. It turns out that the ground floor of Cloud Nine is the club complete with DJ booth and bars. The second floor was VIP rooms that could be rented for a high priced or used by the owner for meetings like when Mandy first met me. The third floor was a series of suites built to be individual havens for the certain Kindred.

Quatre claimed the master suite. Trowa and Wufei reclaimed their own rooms. So did Heero. I was surprised to find that out. I was hesitant on claiming my own room, but hey, might as well. I doubt I'll be sleeping in it that often, but it doesn't hurt to have one.

Each room came fully furnished with its own private bath. I was amazed to find out I had a Jacuzzi in my bathroom. Hey, talk about relaxing in style. I could get used to this.

Knock. Knock.

I looked up from where I was unpacking my laundry to put in the dresser and smiled. Heero was in the doorway. I motioned for him to enter. He nodded and walked over to me. I set the shirt I was holding down just in time. Heero pulled me close to me and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I sighed happily and rested against him. Yeah, I could certainly get used to this.

"Aishiteru Koibito"

I grinned. I knew what that meant. True it was only because it was one of the few phrases Heero was able to get right in English. But hey, I'm not picky. I'll take any form of I love you.

I kissed him as way of answer. How else was I supposed to respond? He couldn't hear me. So this was the next best thing. Well, actually stripping him naked and locking the door would be the next best thing.

I was about to do that too when there was another knock at my door. Wufei was standing in the doorway, looking a little too amused for my taste. He knew he was going to stop me from having fun. So not fair.

"Quatre wants us all to gather in the master suite in five minutes."

Curse him and curse Quatre. Hell, for good measure, curse Trowa. At this rate, I'll never get laid how I want. Tied down and at Heero's mercy.

Grumble. "We'll be right there."

I glared at Wufei as he left us. He still had that damned smirk on his face. Cocky bastard. He's probably gotten laid more than I have in the last week.

Heero gave me a curious look. I gave him a small smile and motioned in the general direction of Quat's room. He got the idea right away. His hand slipped down to hold mine and we were off.

**XXX**

"Alright Q, we're here. Now why are we here?"

Quatre smiled from his position on his couch. Yeah, his room had a couch. And plush chairs. And a huge four-poster canopy bed. Lets not forget the antique wardrobe and the fireplace. Yeah, lets not forget that. Or the fact that every thing's done in Black and Red.

Besides Quatre sat Trowa and Wufei. Both of them were lounging there. Wufei still had that damnable smirk on his face.

"We need to decide what to do about those books."

Ah, so we're back to this again. Figures. Though yeah, I do agree it's a pressing problem.

"I think they're too dangerous to hand over to anyone."

Even though Wu says that, I know it's not an option

"Yeah, and then the Tremere come after us. I don't know about you Wu, but I'd rather not have another run in with vamps that can set things on fire without a flamethrower or matches."

"I agree with Duo. The books will only make us a target,"

Yeah, like we weren't already? Hello? I seem to have a target permanently painted on my back. It's called being one of the few living beings living in a vampire world. I'll be lucky to see 200 at the rate I'm going!

I felt Heero stroke my braid gently. I guess he could tell I was a little irritated.

"The only option is to give them to Johann and let him deal with the Tremere."

Thank you Quat! If anyone can convince Wu-man, it's Quatre. I hope so anyway. It's either him or Trowa. Though I'd be curious how they manage to do it. I bet it involves chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Or handcuffs. And lets not forget the ball gag!

Trowa nodded in agreement. Wufei grumbled. Heero had no clue what was going on. I was in agreement with Q-bean.

"Alright then, lets give them to Johann. The sooner the better."

"Tonight then."

**XXXXXX**

Ten minutes later of discussing how we were going to give the books to Johann without causing trouble and we were left to get ready for the night. Heero followed me back to my room. I could tell he was antsy about something. I don't know what, but still.

I guess he saw the look on my face and shook his head and sighed. He motioned that he was going to go for a walk and left before I could say anything. First last night and now tonight. That confirmed it. There was something wrong with my Heero.

I finished getting ready for the night. You know, the whole lets dress decently and arm myself to the teeth getting ready.

I tracked down Trowa. I mean, if anyone knew where to find Heero, it'd be Tro, right? I sure hope so.

"Hey Trowa! Have you seen Heero around?"

Trowa looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, try the dance floor. He might have went down for something to eat."

I cringed slightly. Yeah, so he still needed blood. I can't always win I guess.

So I went down stairs. On the second floor I ran into the bald twins. I learned that their names were Bert and Ernie. I shit you not. Those were their actual names. No wonder they were bouncers. This way they could beat up anyone making fun of their names and get paid. That and the benefits were decent for a Brujah.

"Hey guys, you seen Heero around."

Both of them shook their heads.

"Nope."

Great. Down to the dance floor I go. Lets see if I can survive the loud noise and press of bodies without getting groped. I doubt it.

Deathscythe stirred as I weaved my way through the mass of people. I had one guy stop and hit on me, thinking I was a girl. I set him straight real quick. Nothing says male faster than a punch to the gut. People parted for me after that.

I looked everywhere I could think of, including the bathroom. This led to the conclusion that he was not in the building. Outside we go then.

I forced my way out the doors with a little help from the bouncers. There was much cursing by the people we forcibly moved out of my way. Ah, the sounds of people who have nothing better to do than get wasted and going home with random strangers.

I looked up and down the strip. I couldn't find him anywhere. I even stopped in the Crimson Rose. Mar said he hadn't been in there. Somehow I believe her.

Deathscythe was starting to get even more restless as time wore on. I didn't like it. When it starts getting like this, then I know there's something wrong. Or going to happen. Something bad. Something very bad.

Screech! Crash! Thud!

I winced. It sounded like an accident. I turned around. Yeah, that's what it was. Right there in the middle of the strip. A car veered off and hit a telephone pole. The I noticed it. There was blood on the road. My heart leapt to my throat. What exactly happened?

I started to run towards the scene. The closer I got, the more agitated Deathscythe became. There was something newly dead here. I'm hoping it was the driver.

The car looked totaled. A quick check on the driver revealed him to be out cold but alive. I couldn't say the same for the passenger.

A whimper caught my attention. I looked towards the end of the car and froze. Heero.

I could feel the blood draining from my face. He was pinned between the pole and the car. Blood was everywhere. Please God, let him be in once piece.

Deathscythe felt just as panicked as I was. I felt a wave of my power dash out before it dove straight into Heero. What the hell was it doing now? Heero was dying and it decided to try and possess him?

I fought my way closer to Heero, finally getting close enough to reach out and touch his cheek. He felt like ice.

"Heero, hold on. The others will be here soon… I hope."

Yeah, it knew it was useless to talk to someone who was deaf, but this was more for my comfort than his.

"Duo… I'm alright."

I jerked. Heero? He heard me?

"Daijoubu Heero?"

Okay so yeah, I've picked up a little Japanese from him.

"Iie. But I'll be fine, don't worry."

He was answering me. How?

I felt Deathscythe return to me. Then something clicked.

We both cringed when we heard sirens.

"Duo! Heero! Are you two alright?"

I turned to spot Quatre and his boys fighting their way through the crowd that was gathering. I guess accidents really do gather crowds. Damn it. We need to get out of here.

They finally got to our side. Quatre looked horrified at what he saw. Trowa was his blank self and Wufei looked worried. There was way too much blood. I wanted him out of there now.

"We need to get him out of here."

They nodded. Wufei went over to the other side of the front of the car and Trowa stayed on this side. Quatre grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Heero for a moment. Both guys pushed and easily moved the car like it was a cardboard box. Heero slumped to the ground with a groan. I broke away from Quatre and rushed to his side.

Trowa gently moved me aside and picked Heero up. His lower half was nothing but blood. I could easily see bone poking out of his thigh. Wufei and Quatre cleared the path as we disappeared into the alley beside Marie's Double. It's back to the clinic for us.

**XXXXXX**

If Sally was surprised to see us, she didn't show it. She pointed to a cot near the back and told Tro to set Heero down there. I could have swore that it was the same cot he was in last time he as here.

Moments later she was over here checking out the damage.

"What happened?"

"Well…"

"I went for a walk and tried crossing the street. I didn't notice the car coming towards me until it was too late."

We all looked at Heero in surprise. He heard her? What the…? Don't get me wrong I'm happy he's able to hear again. I just want to know how.

Sally looked puzzled "Heero, you can hear again?"

He remained silent for a moment. "Hai. However, everything's muffled and faint."

She nodded a little. "I see. You weren't able to hear anything before the accident, right?"

"Iie. Everything was silence."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I can tell you that you have a broken femur, a few cracked ribs, a ruptured liver and internal bleeding. Nothing life threatening for a Kindred. Just very uncomfortable. I can set the bone no problem. The internal bleeding and ruptured organs can take care of themselves. Even though you're mostly human now, your body is still not using all of the organs."

We looked at her dumbly. How did she know that?

She gave us a grin. "I did some tests while he was out for that week."

I glanced down at Heero. He was looking at her with a wariness that wasn't there before. I don't blame him. She apparently had no misgivings about experimenting on people in her care. Must take note and remember that next time I'm here for any period of time.

"I'll be right back." Sally got up and left.

I glanced over to Trowa. He shrugged. He didn't know what she was up to either. None of us did.

She returned several minutes later with a cart and a machine. It took me a moment to realize what it was. You know those machines where they make you put on these huge headphones and then have you raise your hand when you hear the sound? Yeah, it was one of those. Where the hell did she get it?

"Lets test your hearing." She handed him the headphones and waited for him to put them on before giving him instructions. "Raise your hand when you hear the sound."

She turned it on. She flipped some switches and turned some dials. We watched her do this. Heero never raised his hand. We were all confused.

After Heero took off the headphones, Sally looked thoughtful. She was tapping her finger against her lips. "Duo, did anything happen during the accident?"

I frowned as I thought back. "Actually… yeah. Deathscythe sent out like a locator wave type thing. It's done that before to scope out kindred." I paused for a moment. "Then it left me and entered Heero…." What did that have to do with anything?

Sally remained silent for a moment. "Duo, I want to try an experiment. Put on the headphones. Heero if you hear anything, raise your hand."

We all gave her puzzled looks. She turned on the machine and turned a dial.

Heero looked even more confused as he raised his hand.

I was confused. I was hearing the tones, not him. Why was he hearing them?

This went on for a minute or two more before she told me I could take off the headphones of doom.

"This is highly unusual."

Damn it. I swear this woman was toying with us. I was about 10 seconds away from screaming at her to tell us what was so unusual. Then Trowa stepped in. All was right in the world again.

"Sally, I know you're enjoying the suspense, but please, tell us?"

She let out this over dramatic sigh and pouted. "Fine, ruin all my fun." She smiled a little before going professional again. "I'm not sure exactly what happened or how. I'm classifying this as another one of those 'Duo's involved so don't bother trying to figure it out' incidents. Apparently, Heero can hear everything Duo hears. If Duo can't hear it, Heero can't hear it. I would have to do further tests to find out more."

…. Okay so that was unexpected. What the hell was Deathscythe doing to me?

Heero and I stared at each other for a moment. What the hell was going on?

**XXXXX**

After a little convincing, Quatre got me to tear myself away from Heero and upstairs. We still had a mission to accomplish. Give the books to Johann. Before anything else happens to us.

We weaved through the crowds, no one really caring we were there. It took us awhile, but we spotted Johann at a table with Victoria, and surprisingly Dorothy.

We cautiously made our way over. Yeah, you know we could ask one of them to fix Heero, but then we'd be in this same situation all over again owing one of them something. Lets not repeat this performance.

Johann was the first to notice us thankfully. He looked up and trained those black eyes of his on us. "Such a pity about your Gangrel."

"You know, I'm more than willing to fix him" chimed in Victoria.

The way she said that made me cringe. I don't want to know what she would to Heero or any of us if given the chance.

"No, that's alright, he's fine healing on his own…"

"If you're so sure Duo. Although, I'm sure any of us could fix him up in no time."

Dorothy had that shit eating grin on her face again. There was no way in hell I was going to let her anywhere near Heero. Not a chance in Hell.

"We'd rather you didn't Ms. Catalonia." Quatre stared at her calmly.

Yeah, another confrontation between these two would result in bloodshed, again.

Dorothy just stared back at Quat with the same shit-eating grin on her face. "Then of course Mr. Winner. I'd hate to upset the new power in the Independents."

That got both Johann and Victoria's attention.

"Oh? You didn't know? Ms. Welshman handed her position and club over to Mr. Winner after taking the position of pack leader from him."

Johann gave Quatre a sharp look. "Is that so?"

Victoria was watching Johann intently. A little too intently for my taste. Something was wrong. Please, paranoia don't let me down now.

"Where is my payment?"

Wufei took the front on this one. "If you will follow me to the office upstairs, I will give you your payment in full."

Johann nodded as he stood up. Victoria finally stopped staring and yawned. Dorothy started to look bored.

"Do hurry back Johann. You know how I don't do well around this crowed."

He didn't even pay her any attention as Wufei lead the way. I started to follow only to be stopped by Trowa. "Part of the deal would be no one present when Johann received his payment."

I looked to Quatre. "I'm sorry Duo, there's nothing I can do. Let's just wait and hope for the best."

Paranoia just got kicked up a notch. Deathscythe was even agreeing with me that this wasn't good.

**XXXX**

We stood there awkwardly as Victoria and Dorothy ignored us.

Sound of breaking wood. Crack. A tentacle appeared over the balcony railing. Something went flying.

To my horror I realized the 'flying thing' was Wufei. We watched in horror as he crashed into the bar, destroying one entire portion of it. Wood and glass went flying everywhere.

In moments Trowa and Quatre were off like rockets heading towards Wufei.

Anyone in that area of the club scrambled to get away as alcohol mixed with blood stained the wood and floors. I wasn't too far behind them. Unfortunately they had the advantage of speed.

When I got there, Quatre had manage to kneel at Wufei's head, ignoring the wood and glass as he cradled his head in his lap. Trowa was trying to clear away debris.

Wufei… looked like shit. The most disturbing part though was the large bit of wood that was sticking out of his chest. Right where his heart would be.

I stared. Oh dear god.

Quatre was crying bloody tears as he stoked Wufei's hair. He was whispering to him in a language I didn't understand.

Trowa was trying his best to clear the wood away so they could see just how the piece of wood was lodged in him.

"Oh my, that looks painful. Good thing he's unconscious now."

I turned to stare at Relena. She had appeared beside me from somewhere. A red lollipop was in her mouth.

"What do you mean he's unconscious? He has a piece of wood sticking out of his chest!" Okay so I sounded a little frantic. I was entitled.

She looked up at me with her head cocked to the side. "You didn't feel your bond break did you?"

That made me pause. No, Deathscythe assured me that it was still there.

She smiled. "Then don't worry. He will be all right, he's just staked."

"Err… what?"

She laughed at me. "He has a stake through the heart. All that means is that he can't move, he can't use any disciplines." She gained a thoughtful look as she popped the sucker out of her mouth. "Though, he may be really hungry when you pull that stake out. I wouldn't be in the room if I were you." She smiled at me before twirling around and skipping off somewhere. Yeah, literally skipping.

I felt someone rush past me and realized that it was Sally with a medic bag. Someone must have ran down stairs and gotten her.

She made her way through the mess and started ordering people around. Soon the entire area around Wu was cleared as she was helping Trowa and Quatre carry him off. Back to the basement we go.

This was so not our night.

**XXXXX**

_**Glossary!**_

Staking: The effect of this procedure is immobilisation of the subject Vampire. No movement, use of blood or use of disciplines is possible while staked. This is how it works in VTM so I'm going with it.

_**Character Spotlight!**_

**_Bishop Darcy:_** Actually, he's sort of a random character. A generic Lasombra with a funny name. That's about it really. He was only for this story.

**_Mar and Ree:_** Has anyone realized that if you put their names put together you get 'Marie'? Which leads into the name of the club Marie's Double. Named after them. Neat huh? This idea had a previous incarnation in a multi crossover that never got off the ground. Mar and Ree were going to be myself and my wonderful beta ArtemistEmerald. Both of our middle names are Marie. Now you know.

So Basically Now I've run out of Oc's to spotlight, my wonderful Beta suggested the GW cast. I'm betting its cause she's curious why I put some characters where I did.

_**Relena Peacecraft: **_My reasoning behind putting her, as Malkavian is simple. I thought it would be funny and I needed someone slightly airy and flighty. Yeah, I know she isn't like that in the series, but hey, this works rather well I think.

**_Milliardo Peacecraft:_** Why Toreador? Have you seen the guy? He's a bishy. Plain and simple. I felt as if he were too indecisive to be a Ventrue so Toreador it is.


	11. Things are not as they appear

Here's the newest chapter for my loyal readers!

Disclaimers: Same as usal, dont own GW or VTM or the Hippocratic Oath. You'll see what I mean.

Enjoy!!

**XXX**

You know, I've seen way too much of this clinic since coming here. Yeah, I usually have a high hospital attendance record, but usually they're spaced out. Not non-stop continuously for the last week! Well, at least I'm no the one confined here this time.

That would be Heero and Wufei. Poor Heero's been down here nearly as much as I have and for far worse things. So not fair.

After Sally had got Fei downstairs, she ordered Tro and Quat to bring him to that big safe like room that I originally thought was the armory. She explained that it was a type of panic room. They unstaked kindred in there. She said that with Fei there'd be 50/50 chance he'd frenzy. She wasn't sure because of how he was staked.

I didn't understand what the hell she was talking about. Heero frenzied and Quatre was able to take care of it, why was this any different?

Trowa explained to me that Wu being hungry would be the difference.

Okay… err … that made more sense then. I didn't need to be lunch. Yeah, He was mine more so than Tro and Quat, but I wasn't sure if that'd show through the ravaging attack of a wild beast that he might become.

So instead, they shut themselves in a room with double reinforced steel door and walls. Sally was the only one that knew the code to unlock it. Needless to say, she's in there too.

I waited at Heero's bedside. My poor Heero must be feeling lonely now.

I felt a tug on my braid. Okay so maybe I'm being a little over dramatic. I feel as if I'm entitled by now thank you very much.

I grinned at Heero. "For once we're alone and we can't do anything. Do you know how much that sucks?"

Heero shook his head and smiled a bit. "Baka."

Ha! I got him to smile, point for me. I blew at my bangs and leaned in close to him with my trademark grin still on my face. "Yeah, but you love this baka."

There was a silent rolling of the eyes and another tug on my braid. I wonder what everyone would do if I cut that. No more leash. Like I'd ever do that. I'm way too attached to my braid to even seriously think about it.

Thud. Slam.

I winced. That didn't sound good. I guess Fei was hungry.

I felt Heero's grip tighten on my braid. I was much better off out here than in there.

I felt Deathscythe agree.

**XXXX**

They emerged an hour later, looking a little worse for wear. Okay, the boys did. Sally was blushing beet red.

I glanced at Heero when we saw the sight of Tro, Quat, and Fei with their clothes looking like they were thrown back on. I could swear there was a hickey mark on Wufei's neck. Heero just shook his head.

I'd say judging by Sally's redder than a tomato blush that Fei wasn't hungry when he got unstaked. No, I'd say not at all. Not by the pleased look on Trowa's face and the state of their clothes.

"Maxwell, don't say a word."

Ouch. Cut off before I could open my mouth. Ye of little faith, Fei.

"So, who's the top?"

Yes! I didn't know Heero had it in him. I've trained him well. Sigh. Insert tears here.

My little melodramatic act got me a playful tug and a 'Baka' comment. All was right in the world again.

Wufei looked annoyed at Heero's comment. Oh well. Both Trowa and Quatre were amused. I'm willing to bet that Fei was the bottom in this one.

There were a few moments of silence that were finally interrupted by Sally. I guess she got her composure back during our playful little banter. She held out four blood bags to my favorite vampire.

"Don't even argue. I know you need it."

None of them complained as they downed their blood like good little undead boys.

**XXXX**

After the boys were done with their meal, Sally chased us out of the room. She said she needed to do a few more experiments. That so didn't sound good. Then I saw five very familiar looking Nos come our way and walked straight past us into the clinic, slamming the door behind them. Poor Heero. All I have to say is that he better be in one piece when I see him next.

With no way of getting back in there, not that any of us wanted to with those guys in there, we headed back upstairs.

For once everything was quiet, peaceful and pleasant. Then we spotted Johann. Good by peace and quiet, hello angry Quatre.

Our dear little blonde Lasombra marched passed us on a mission. Wu and Tro exchanged looks and hesitated to go after him. Hell, I hesitated to go after him. Deathscythe wasn't even sure if it was a good idea. Q looked cold and ruthless.

He came to a stop at Johann's table. The only warning we got that Quat was going to do something were the shadow's condensing around him. Johann didn't seem to care. He went right along talking to Mandy who was watching Quatre curiously. Well, as curious as that woman gets anyway.

"I believe that there is someone that wants to talk to you."

You know, maybe she's not that bad, just a little unreadable that's all.

Johann didn't even turn around. "I know. I also know that young Mr. Winner is going to do something incredibly stupid like his little pet Brujah did."

I backed away a little bit. I swear the area around Q dropped 10 degrees at the least. Tentacles formed around him and went racing at Johann.

Smack!

I stared wide-eyed as Johann disappeared into shadows. What the hell?

He appeared over by the bar, stepping out of the shadows. Did he just move through shadow? How the hell is that possible?

Quatre didn't look as shocked as I did. I guess he expected something like that. Damn.

"Quatre, perhaps you should calm down."

Please, Trowa, placate the little blonde shadow terror.

Wufei just stood by me. He looked sort of lost. I think seeing Quatre go off like this for his sake wasn't agreeing with him. Yeah, judging by the paler than usual look, it wasn't agreeing with him at all.

Quatre gave Trowa this chilling, icy glare before turning his attention back to Johann. Johann was looking annoyed. I guess he didn't want his conversation with Mandy interrupted.

I could tell that this could be considered a suicide run on Quat's part. So here's a question. How do you stop a rampaging vampire that can tear you apart with shadow? Anyone got an answer? Anyone? Okay, it's official, we're fucked and not in a good way.

It was Trowa that came up with the answer. I just have to say that he is bloody brilliant. What did he do you might ask? Well, our brave, brave Trowa grabbed Quatre and kissed him. Oh, it wasn't just any kiss. It was one of those 'lets see how far we can slide our tongues down each other's throat and play hockey with our tonsils' type kisses.

That stopped the rampage in its tracks. And got the attention of the entire room. When they did finally break, Quatre was looking dazed and nearly all the girls in the room either cheered or awed. There were a few guys who were passing money around. I'm guessing there was a betting pool going on at one point. I wonder what exactly they were betting on?

It took Q awhile to snap out of the daze that Trowa put him in. When he did, he was back to his calm little self. He was a little icy, but no longer a rampaging, shadow wielding mass murderer. I can handle this.

Fei was a little hesitant to approach them. That didn't last long when Quatre gave him a reassuring smile and grabbed his hand. Trowa grasped the other one and pulled him into position to stand between them. They were so cute!

Okay I got to stop doing that. Seriously. Yeah, they are having their ups and downs, but I seem to be having more trouble with Heero than they do together.

"Penny for your thoughts? A nickel for a sickle?"

Jesus! I jumped. You would think that by now I would be used to that. Damn it.

Yeah, Relena did it again. I swear she gets some sort of perverse pleasure out of making me jump.

"What do you want Relena?"

Relena smiled at me as she popped another one of those odd lollipops of hers in her mouth. "Nothing Duo. Just be warned that things aren't always as they appear to be." She twirled around on the spot. "You already know that Duo." She giggled before bounding up to me and throwing herself at me. I barely caught her as she whispered in my ear. "Deathscythe grows. They need you. You need them. Loyalty set in stone. Time will come. You will realize. Then all will be well." She pulled away and smiled at me before giving me a peck on the cheek before quickly bounding off into the crowd. Moment's later I lost sight of her neon pink shirt.

Okay, I was confused. What was that? I turned to look at the guys. They didn't seem to notice anything. I shook my head and blew at my bangs. Great. Now I have a Malkavian trying to give me advice. What the hell? Is my life really that messed up?

**XXXX**

Sunrise. Sunset.

It's funny how I'm usually on the wrong side of both of those.

I woke up in my own bed, alone. Yeah, Heero was still stuck in the clinic. Sally said it'd take a few days. I think she's just saying that so she can have Heero at her mercy. The sadistic bitch.

Then again, if she can find out answers to what the hell is going on in this messed up world then I guess it's worth it.

A shower and clean clothes later found me wandering around Cloud Nine. My mesh shirt and tight low riders let me blend in despite my braid. Yeah, I just felt like being around people right now. What can I say; lets hang around the living instead of the dead for once. I used to do that once upon a time like oh, two, nearly three weeks ago. Time flies when vamps are mauling you. Or at least they're trying to.

I found a table in a quiet area and sat down. People watching. That's all I wanted to do before one of the guys found me or sent Bert and Ernie after me.

The girl with the reddish blonde hair that was dancing with the blonde guy over there, she was a vampire. A Toreador. She had lived for nearly 300 years as a 13th gen. She was flirting with the guy. Either she was going to snack on him or she was just having some fun.

My eyes left the couple and stopped on another group of people. The tanned, dark haired guy in the center of the crowd was high. He was also selling. None of them were vampires. One did come near them but veered off when it caught the scent of pot on them.

Is the only way to protect yourself against vampires is to be so high you don't know where you are?

Damn the world. My head dropped to my hands as my fingers carded though my bangs. I seriously need to get laid.

"Hey Duo, we're about ready to head over to Marie's Double."

I looked up at Quatre and nodded. "Alright then, lets get going."

**XXXXXXX**

For once, things seemed normal when I walked in the door of Elysium. Nothing jumped out at us and tried to kill us. Nothing tried to start a fight. It was quiet. Okay, as quiet as a bar full of kindred can get anyway.

I left Trowa in charge as I slipped down to the basement. The clinic door was still shut. I knocked on it anyway.

The Nos with the pointy nose and the mushroom cut answered. "What do you want?" he sounded irritated that I had the nerve to knock.

"I want to see Heero."

"No visitors allowed." Slam.

The fucker just slammed the door in my face. What the hell?

I was not happy. I think Mr. Rude and Obnoxious needs a lesson. Deathscythe must have agreed with me. It raced off through the door. I could feel where everyone was, not just Heero.

There was the sound of things scattering and being thrown. I listened for a few moments before the door burst open again. It was Mushroom man again. His hair looked like a wind blew it every which way. Serves him right. Damn bastard.

"Fine. Come in."

I stepped in and looked around. Deathscythe did a number in short time. Chairs and trays of instruments were over turned. A scalpel was even sticking out of the wall. The Nos and Sally did not look please.

As for Deathscythe, it seemed to be dancing around Heero, chasing off the people nearest to him.

That's when I saw what they were doing. He was strapped down and gagged. Surgical tools were on a tray table near him. Sally was dressed for surgery and so were the Nos. They had everything ready to start cutting into my Heero.

What the hell are they doing? There better be a damn good explanation to go along with what I was seeing here.

Deathscythe must have agreed with me because it pushed Sally away from Heero. It practically threw her into the wall before whirling around him again.

"There better be a damn good explanation about this."

Sally slowly got up from where she was thrown. "There is Duo, just calm down and see reason."

"Reason? REASON? I walk in here to find you getting ready to dice up MY Heero. You want me to see reason? "

The Nos with the robo arm and goggles gave me an odd look. "We weren't going to do anything that would permanently harm Heero, just some mild discomfort."

Mild discomfort? They call surgery a mild discomfort? What planet are they from? Planet Sadists? I'd hate to see what they considered a major discomfort.

Why wasn't Heero protesting? He was deaf, not mute.

Deathscythe had my answer. There was a small stake in his heart. It wasn't noticeable from this angle.

I lashed out with Deathscythe, attacking them with it. Deathscythe started cutting them with razor sharp winds. They all backed off, taking refuge behind an over turned table.

Pulse. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei should be down here soon.

I walked towards Heero. I pushed the equipment away as I reached for the small stake. I was barely able to grasp it. I slowly eased it out of him and threw it to the side. His beautiful blue cat eyes snapped open and stared into mine. Next thing I knew I was being pulled down into a crushing kiss. I didn't care. He was safe now. Thank God.

There was the sound of feet running down the stairs and then the sound of people rushing in. I turned to see Quatre and Trowa in the lead with Wufei right behind them. What surprised me the most was Victoria was with them.

I wasn't going to question it for the moment.

I helped Heero up to the sitting position as Quatre rushed to our side. We managed to get Heero off the table and standing. He was a little shaky, okay more than a little shaky. He could stand, but I doubt he could walk.

Victoria rounded on the Nos and Sally.

"Ms. Po, when I sat you up here as a physician, I remember clearly expressing that you obey the Hippocratic oath. Even if it was for the benefit of the kindred of this city." She paused as she stood before them. Shadows started to condense around her feet and creep towards them as the huddled behind the table. "Further more, I remember expressly forbidding you or anyone else from experimenting on other kindred." She glared down at the Nosferatu. "That went for you five as well. Especially you five."

We stared at her as she lectured them. This was the same Victoria that stripped the flesh off of Quatre's arm? The same one that made my own arm useless decades ago? What the hell? She nearly sounded… human.

"Victoria, if they're being stupid, teach them a lesson. Like this."

Johann had been standing in the doorway. Shadows condensed and raced towards the huddled group. Tentacles broke off and attacked them. I looked away. There was the sound of ripping cloth. Tearing flesh. And then wet squishy sounds. A glance at Quatre found him looking away too, nearly looking green. Heero wrapped his hand around my braid and gripped it. Even Wu was looking away. Trowa had his eyes averted as well.

Soon the sounds stopped. I didn't care look up.

"You know, he didn't do anything I can't fix." Victoria's voice sounded amused.

"I can fix them too, you dumb blonde." Johann's voice sounded both annoyed and amused.

I looked up just in time to see her stick her tongue out at him. Okay, that so did not go with the image of an arrogant bitch I thought she was.

Victoria straightened herself up and crossed her arms. "I only did blonde once."

"Once was more than enough."

Shadows grew thicker around them before dissipating.

"Well…. that was… pleasant?" Quatre didn't sound to sure. Hell, I wasn't sure what was going on. This was just too weird for me. What the hell?

Victoria shook her head as one of her hands came up to play with a loose strand from her bun. I watched in fascination as the strand of hair changed colors under her fingertips. Black, then brown, then reddish brown, then dark blonde, then blonde, then light blond, lighter and then finally white.

"Now, I can fix your Gangrel pet. For a price Mr. Maxwell."

I winced as I heard her say that. "And what would that be."

She smiled at me. I didn't like that smile. That was a smile a cat gives a mouse before it pounces. Shit.

"Simple. You let me study you and this power of yours and let me record my findings. Johann will be helping me of course."

"More like I'll be doing the research and she will be sitting back and watching."

She shot him a glare. "You got your books."

"Speaking of those, why the hell did you throw Wu off of the balcony?"

There was a long pause. "He said something real stupid and then did something real stupid. I was being nice."

If that was being nice, then I'd hate to see his version of bad.

I glanced over to Wufei. He was trying to avoid looking at me. What the hell did he do?

"If we were to accept this offer, what would be in it for us?"

A smile formed on Victoria's face, but Johann was the one to answer. "The benefits of someone able to use vicissitude to heal you."

Well, that would help with all the injuries we've been receiving lately. Somehow I know there's a catch.

"Alright, fine. Just no exploratory surgery please."

A cat like grin appeared on her face. "Oh don't worry, I wasn't planning on it."

How come I feel like I just signed a deal with someone who could send the devil packing?

**XXXX**

**Glossary!**

_**Hippocratic oath:**_ ArtemisEmerald suggested I put this here. This has nothing to do with VTM and everything to do with Doctors in general. It's an oath embodying the duties and obligations of physicians, usually taken by those about to enter upon the practice of medicine. Or kindred as the case may be with Sally.

**Character Spotlight!**

_**Treize Kushrenada: **_You know, there really wasn't a choice for him. He had to be Ventrue. There was no way around it.

_**Lady Une: **_Well, if Treize screams Ventrue, then Une screams Treize's ghoul. It makes sense with how devoted she was to him. Ghouls are basically devoted to their Masters. She even has the split personality thing going on.

**_Lucrenzia Noin:_** see above only apply it to Milliardo.


	12. Caverns and Discovery

**ATTENTION! ****  
**

**Before you start reading, if you havent caught on already, this is a yaoi story. I know some of you have been waiting for it, so here it is. The first -coughsexcough- scene between Heero and Duo. It's near the end. If I get complaints and flames or any such rot like that then thats the last time I try it. I'm a little wary of posting this particular part here.****  
**

Other than that, standard Disclaimer applys: Dont own them.

**XXXXX**

Well, Victoria did fix Heero. Who knew that she's spent most of her unlife studying medicine and anatomy? I sure as hell didn't. Though, I guess it makes sense. How else would she be able to do some of the things she does with that power of hers?

When she fixed him, I had to look away. The last thing I saw was her parting his skin and reaching in like he was made of clay. That is so not right. No one should be able to do that to a human being.

A few minutes later there was the sound of hands being wiped on a cloth.

I glanced back to see Victoria cleaning off her hands on an old towel. The towel was white at one point. Now it was red.

"All fixed, including the leg. He's as good as new."

I guess I should be thankful to the Tzimisce bitch. Really I should. However, past experience has taught me to be wary. "Alright, now what?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Oh come now Mr. Maxwell. Do you not trust me? After all, I did just do you a great service."

"Yeah, for a price. Let's not forget about that."

She laughed at that, "Ah, of course. You're expecting me to go mad scientist like so many of my kind have a tendency to do. "

There was a knock at the door. Yeah, we were in the office. Despite Wufei being thrown out of it the other night, it was remarkably intact. I was surprised when I first saw it.

The door opened to reveal Quatre with a small carrying bag. He gave us this cheery, obviously forced smile. He wasn't any surer about Victoria that I was. He set the bag down on the table. "There are a fresh set of clothes in here for you Heero. We figured that you didn't want to go around in what Sally had issued for hospital clothes."

Very true. Sally's idea of hospital clothes was generic grey sweats. I even had to suffer through them.

Heero nodded as he got up from where he had been laying on the couch for Victoria to 'operate' on him. He dug through the bag and laughed when he pulled out a pair of tight ripped jeans and what seems to be his typical black mesh shirt. How many of those shirts does he have? Not that I'm complaining. Hell no, I love to see him in them. I just wonder if he owns any other shirts. Part of me noted that he was going to go commando under those pants. Now that I could really appreciate.

Quatre ushered Victoria and I out so Heero could change. Okay, so I can see chasing Victoria out, but why me? What, was Quatre afraid that I'd jump his bones and never let him out? Okay so the thought had crossed my mind. So?

A few minutes later Heero walked out looking like one of my favorite fantasies. Well, one of my recent ones anyway. The one that involves Heero and I locked in the office going at it like rabbits on every available surface.

Me? Sexually frustrated? You better believe it. Damn it. I seriously need to get laid.

**XXXXXX**

Victoria accompanied us down to the bar before splitting off to go somewhere else. I lost sight of her after a few moments. I don't know if that was a good or a bad thing. It sure as hell made me uneasy.

I still wasn't sure how to take the new turn of events with her. Something was going on. I just didn't know what and that made me uneasy. Okay, paranoid. But then again, since when was I not paranoid in this city? I was surrounded by a bunch of vampires that I didn't know. Some, I'm sure, would love to either dissect me or kill me. Or hell, maybe some of them want me for their own personal sex slave. Either way, this place was testing my nerves. The only good things about this place were Heero, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei.

Speaking of which, where was Wu and Tro? Quat and Heero were with me but those two were nowhere to be seen.

I turned to Quatre, "Hey Q, where's you two significant others?"

Quatre frowned a bit as he looked around. "I have no idea…"

If Quatre didn't know and I didn't know, I have this sinking feeling that we should find out.

Deathscythe must have agreed with me once again because it was off like a rocket. That thing sure did like to dash off to who knows where at the slightest hint of danger.

Heero and Quatre must have felt it because they both looked worried. Hell, I was worried.

It came back a few minutes later. It swirled around us and tugged us in one particular direction, back to the basement. Why the hell are we going back downstairs?

We followed Deathscythe past the clinic and down the tunnel farthest to the left. It was practically pitch black in here. I felt Heero tug on my braid. "Let me go first, I can see in the dark."

I felt his hand slip into mine. Then I felt another tug on my braid.

"That's all and well Heero, but I can't see in the dark either."

Oh, it was Quatre on my braid this time. I swear everyone assumes that it's a leash.

"Hn."

I could have laughed.

Heero led the way down the tunnel till we felt it branch off. We waited a moment as Deathscythe raced down one then the other. When it came back, it led us down the right fork in the tunnel. All to soon we were coming up on distant lights.

We cautiously approached the end of the tunnels and tried to stay out of the line of sight. What we found was definitely cause for a moment of stunned silence.

Deathscythe raced out into the cavern, whirling about. In the cavern was what looked like an entire science lab. Currently it looked like there was no one home. I'm betting this was the Nosferatu haven. That would explain where Sally got the machine to test Heero's hearing.

We wandered into the cavern. If this was the Nosferatu haven, then they definitely won't be back for a while.

Why did Deathscythe lead us down here? Weren't we looking for Trowa and Wufei?

Something caught my attention in the corner of my eye. I turned to look and found a book lying open. A breeze from Deathscythe had ruffled the pages. I walked over and started to read.

'Stage one is complete. Trowa Barton contacted us for information. It was just as they predicted. We asked for his blood in exchange for information. It was a success. They will be thrilled.'

Who was 'they'? What the hell was this?

I turned the page and read a little more.

'Setback, they went to the Lasombra for help. He asked for the books in exchange. He does not have them yet. There's still a chance'

I felt a chill run though me. What the hell? It sounds like they had everything planned.

'They failed to retrieve the books. The Gangrel frenzied. However the beast is now deaf. He will be the easiest target now'

I could feel the color drained from my face. I slammed the book shut and gripped it in my hands. "Guys? We need to go see Milliardo. Now."

Heero and Quatre looked up from where they were looking around.

"Why Duo? What's wrong?"

I drew in a big breath. "I don't know yet. We need to talk to Milliardo."

I guess they caught my urgency because next I knew; Heero and Quatre were both holding on to me and racing back down the tunnel.

**XXXX**

Finding Milliardo was easy enough. Thankfully Treize and their usual groupies were with them.

I few rushed words later and we were in his office. I handed him the book and told him what we found. He flipped through it and came to stop on the passages I had read.

A few moments later saw him passing it to Treize. Milliardo was stone faced. The only thing that gave away his anger was his eyes. They were intense.

Treize read over the same passages before snapping the book closed and setting it down. Une tensed as Treize let off a soft growl. "This is an outrage."

Noin glanced between the two men, unsure of what exactly was going on. "What is sir?"

"The Nosferatu were in league with someone in the most dishonorable of plots."

Apparently when Treize is upset his speech suffers. Well, if you call getting more wordy suffering.

"The only question is who were they working with?"

"I'm sure if we read more, the book will tell us. Or we can interrogate the Nosferatu."

I winced as I watched them talk. "That might be harder than you think."

That got both of their attention.

"Why is that Mr. Maxwell?"

Milliardo sounded suspicious. I didn't blame him. "We sort of had a run in with them earlier. To put a long story short, Johann taught them a lesson."

That got a frown and a raised eyebrow out of the two of them. "What exactly do you mean Mr. Maxwell?"

Great, now I had Treize pushing the point.

"What Duo means, is that Johann used the powers our clan is so well known for. I am afraid that if you want to talk to them, you will have to find someone to put them back together again."

Quatre to the rescue!

"I see."

I couldn't tell if they were unsettled by the news or annoyed. Damn it, they were hard to read.

"Have you seen Trowa and Wufei around anywhere?"

I looked at Heero. I had nearly forgotten that we had originally been looking for them.

"Yes, as a matter of fact they are talking to Ms. Welshman."

For once Une didn't sound like Ms. Lets Get In Your Face.

**XXXX**

After we finally left the office, we went searching. Soon enough we found them sitting at the end of the bar talking to Mandy. I was amazed to note that Ms. Doom and Gloom was smiling.

As we approached, the smile was quickly replaced by its usual doom and gloom look. She fell silent as the guys turned to watch us get closer.

Quatre quickly situated himself between his boys and smiled. We were all happy to see them fine and well. Especially Quatre.

I had to smile.

**XXX**

The rest of the night in Elysium went off without a hitch. For once we escaped the night without any more life threatening run-ins after the first one of the night. Now if we could the life threatening run-ins all together, I would be happy. Scratch that, I'd be the luckiest man on the planet.

We made it back to Cloud Nine with a few hours to spare. This was a first. What were we going to do now?

Heero slipped into my room after me and shut the door and locked it.

I gave him a curious look. My curiosity was thrown aside when I saw his face. Hello lust, meet libido.

He grabbed my arm and pressed me against the door as he took my breath away with a fierce kiss.

A few moments later we broke apart so I could breath. And breath I did. He left me breathless. I felt hands tug on my shirt.

I grinned as I tugged on his in return. Moments later I had his shirt off of him. I took a moment to stare at that wonderful broad chest of his and practically purred. That chest was all mine and I couldn't wait to taste it. I dropped the shirt to the floor and kicked it away as I pulled him back in for a gentler kiss. Moments later we broke apart again. I stared into those beautiful cat eyes and saw my own lust echoed back. It's great to know we were on the same page.

Another kiss and I was pushing back against him, forcing him to back up towards the bed until his knees hit it and he fell back, taking me along with him. I laughed as I fell on top of him. His arms slipped around my waist as he rolled us over. I was on bottom now.

He propped himself up on his hands over me and stared down at me for a few moments, a feral grin on his face. It sent shivers down my spine. I'd never seen such a wild, lusty grin before. Talk about a major turn on.

He shifted his weight to support himself on the other hand and used the now free one to tug on by braid. "Let it down."

I eagerly undid the hair tie for him. Most of my past lovers liked using my braid for a leash. I was thrilled to find out Heero wasn't like that. A few moments later, my long chestnut brown hair was fanned out around me. The look on Heero's face made me melt. I was going to have so many marks in the morning that I wouldn't be able to hide them. To hell with hiding them, I'll show them off proudly.

Things started happening really fast after that. First our pants disappeared, then my boxers. Heero had been commando under the jeans. Some digging around in the bedside drawer for lube, I guess someone thought ahead. He positioned himself between my legs and lifted me up. I felt him slip a slick finger into me.

Oh My God. I moaned softly as he continued to prepare me for what was to come.

I whimpered. "Please… Heero."

I guess the begging was all he needed. I felt his fingers leave and felt something larger press it's way into me. God, I think I found heaven.

Soon he was quickly seated all the way in me and started to move slowly in and out. I felt a hand stroke me in time with his movements.

I moaned as he continued at a steady pace, speeding up slowly. By the time he was pounding into me I was screaming his name.

All too soon I felt like an explosion went off. He grunted as he came inside of me before collapsing on top of me. We shared a passionate kiss as we relaxed.

Yeah, I was now sticking and messy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sleep found us soon after.

**XXX**

Heero woke up his usual two hours before the rest. We spent the time cleaning up and taking a shower together. Shower time is now my new favorite pastime.

We went down to the second level while waiting for the others to get up. I was surprised to learn there was a kitchen on the second level equipped with a chef. It's been forever since I've had a decent omelet.

Long after Heero and I finished off our breakfast and Heero had disappeared to feed his blood need and return, the rest of our little dysfunctional group showed up.

The moment Quatre spotted us he turned beet red. Both Trowa and Wufei had this cocky, shit eating grin on their face. I was suspicious.

"So Duo, you're a bottom huh?"

I choked on the orange juice I had been drinking. Something like that I would have suspected out of Wu, not Tro.

Quatre averted his eyes and fidgeted a bit.

Heero looked amused by the entire thing. "Yes, he is."

I tried to look scandalized. "Heero! Don't give the vultures anything to feed on!"

There was a snort from Wufei. "Oh don't worry, you gave us plenty to 'feed on' last night."

Now it was my turn to blush. I set down my drink and crossed my arms. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Oh really? Does 'Please… Heero…' ring any bells? Or how about this, 'Oh God yes Heero! Right there!'

I covered my face with my hands. Damn you Trowa. Damn you Wufei.

**XXX**

**Glossary Time!**

**_Vicissitude:_**The fun little power all Tzimisce have that allows them to play with flesh and bones like clay.

**Character Spotlight!**

_**The Five Scientists –**_ What can I say? They make the perfect Nosferatu. There really was no choice. It had to be them.

_**Sally Po –**_ For her, I could see two options, Ventrue or Tzimisce. I picked Ventrue because I already had a few powerful Tzimisce characters and not many Ventrue. I think it works in the long run. She could have also been Tremere, however, I had my reasons for not doing that.


	13. Testing, 1,2, Testing

Okay, sorry that this chapter's a little short. I'll make it up to everyone next chapter. Speaking of next chapter, I'm not sure if I'll get it out before Saturday, I'm going to be busy today (thursday) and friday. I'll try and get it out as soon as possible.

Enjoy!

Standard Disclaimers apply: Dont own them. Nopes. Sorry.

**XXX**

For once I was happy to see Elysium. Maybe now the teasing will stop. I hope so. I don't tease them nearly as bad as they do me.

We entered and branched off. Trowa mentioned something about a little pow wow with Mandy over some political issues. I'm betting what he really meant was 'Don't mind us, we're going to go snog each other's brains out in a dark corner somewhere.

That left Heero and I all alone to fend for ourselves. I vote we lock ourselves in the office and go at it like rabbits.

I felt a slight tug on my braid that pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up and smiled at Heero.

"You were zoning."

I laughed. "Yeah, well I was just thinking about you, me and the office."

Heero shook his heads as he smiled. "Baka. Lets find a seat."

He started to lead me towards a corner booth. We sat down and cuddled up to each other. I could get use to this. I felt him stroke my braid and I swear was in heaven. So sue me, I love the feeling of someone stroking or petting my hair, it's just so soothing.

I felt so relaxed that I was nearly asleep. What can I say? It was that good.

"Interesting, I'll have to remember that trick."

My head shot up at the sound of Victoria's voice.

My reaction must have amused her judging by the smirk on her face. "Is there a problem Duo?"

I gave her annoyed look as I sat up straighter. "No, not at all." Yeah, sarcasm happens to be my favorite form of whit some days.

"Good, now if you will come with me, I have a few tests I'd like to conduct."

I winced. Why couldn't she wait a month or two, or an entire year? Or better yet, never. I let out a soft whimper and carded my fingers through my hair. "Yeah, yeah, I know." I gave her a suspicious look. "No surgery right?"

She smirked at that. "No surgery. "

**XXXXX**

We're back in the clinic. Again. Damn it, I've seen way too much of this place. At least it looked different this time. The mess was gone and the tables were removed. There were couches and cots and hell, even a lazy boy chair in here now. Now this looked cozy.

Johann was sitting in what looked like one of those really nice rolling desk chairs. He even had a clipboard. Huh, I wonder where this is going.

"Please, take a seat Duo. You too Heero."

Okay, she almost sounded pleasant. That's freaky. The world is ending now isn't it?

Heero pulled me down on to the cot next to him. Victoria waited for a few moments before talking again. "We want to see how far away you can be from Heero before he loses the ability to hear through you."

Okay, that sounded simple enough. "Okay? How?"

Victoria flashed us a fangy grin. "Easy. You and I are going for a walk. Johann will talk to us on this thing when Heero states he can no longer hear." She held up a walkie-talkie.

Does she even know how to use that thing? I'm betting not with how she was holding up. She was holding it away from her by the antenna with a look of annoyance on her face. Yeah, she didn't know how to use it.

Johann was holding his perfectly fine. He probably did know how to use his. At least one of them was up to date on modern technology.

Victoria turned towards the door. "Well? Are you coming?"

I sighed and gave Heero a 'Do I have to?' look. He rolled his eyes and gave me a slight not. Damn. I was hoping he'd say 'No Duo. Stay with me Duo.' Hey, it was wishful thinking on my part.

I slowly got up and dragged my feet as I followed her. We left the room and she shut the door. "Alright. Now, here's the simple part. I talk, you listen, and we wait for Johann to call on this… thing." She held it up in disgust. "Honestly, I have no idea how you mortals put up with this riff raff. I swear you fancy yourselves Malkavian or something by using these."

I had to snort at that. Apparently, she was one of those older vampires that kept up with technology enough to get by in the modern world.

She continued to ramble on was we walked further and further away. We were nearly to the top of the stairs when we heard static. Victoria jumped and it was all I could do not to laugh at the big bag Tzimisce being scared by a little noise.

She growled as she pushed the button on the side that allowed her to talk. "What?"

"He can't hear you anymore. Come back."

She grumbled as she turned around and marched her way back down with me in tow.

We got back there to find Heero and Johann conversing quietly.

"He stopped hearing you a few seconds before I called you and could hear you again the moments after you started heading back."

She nodded as she set the little radio down on a countertop. "Then I'd estimate maybe 30, 35 feet at the most."

I winced. Okay, that was a decent distance, but still, it wasn't very far.

**XXXXX**

A few more experiments and we knew more than enough about the limits of Heero's hearing. We can be separated by 30 feet, 32 feet if we really push it. His ability to turn up a sense lets him hear faint tones at the most. And we found out that if my ears are ringing, then so are his. Thank you Johann.

So, basically, we had to stick near each other. Hey, you won't find me complaining. Not at all. Nopes. I'm more than happy to stick near Heero.

Afterwards, we headed back upstairs. We got barely 5 feet from the door when we were pounced on. Literally.

There was giggling in my ear as I lurched forward. Someone had jumped on my back and wrapped their arms around my neck. I flailed around a bit before Heero steadied me.

"Relena, what are you doing?"

So that's who's on my back. Well that's good to know.

There was another soft giggle as I felt her slide off my back. "Just playing around. Things are going to get bad soon."

Her voice almost sounded childish when she said that. I turned my head a bit to see a small pout on her lips. For once she was lacking her usual sucker. I don't think I've ever seen her with out it. Well, excluding the time she threw that tantrum and who knows how many dollars worth of alcohol.

Then my mind registered what she was wearing. A short black mini skirt with belts hanging off it and criss crossing both in front and back. Her legs were covered in fishnet tights and she was wearing a black tank top with a tight mesh shirt over it. Around her neck was a black leather dog collar. Her hair was done up in a high ponytail instead of its usual hanging loose. She looked like some guys walking Goth wet dream.

She tilted her head to the side and looked at me with those big blue eyes of hers. They seemed to be staring past me at something. I looked back and say nothing, and then I heard a giggle again. She was holding her hands in front of her mouth and giggling. What the hell?

Heero just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Relena, please play somewhere else."

She stuck her tongue out at him and then shook her head. "Nope. Dun wanna."

I shook my head. It was like arguing with someone's little sister. It was mind numbing and annoying.

"Relena! There you are."

I turned to see Hilde approaching us. Thank you God, we're saved.

She reached us in no time and walked right up to Relena. "What have I told you Rel? Leave them alone for Christ's sake."

Relena pouted and went straight into cute mode. Yeah, she had the big doe eyes going and the trembling lip. I wasn't buying it. Neither was Hilde.

"Relena Peacecraft, don't you dare pull that on me. I've known you for over 200 years. It didn't work then and it won't work now. Now pull yourself together and come on."

Whoa, wait. Peacecraft? Wasn't that Milliardo's last name? I glanced over to Heero. He nodded. I guess he could tell what I was thinking.

"So She and Milliardo are related?"

Hilde turned to me and gave me this, amused look. "Yes, they are. Brother and sister to be exact. As to how they ended up in different clans you'd have to ask Milliardo. Rel wont talk about it for some reason."

Well, you learn something new every day.

Hilde ushered Relena off with much fussing and protesting by Relena.

I turned to Heero and cocked an eyebrow. "She and blondie are related?"

He nodded. "Practically everyone in the city new that. They don't try and hide it."

Huh. Go figure. I shook my head. "Well I must have missed that particular memo then."

**XXXXX**

The rest of the night went on uneventfully. Well, except a minor fight between Dorothy and some random guy. I had to step in and stop her before she created a mess. Well, actually I was doing the talking, Quatre was doing the threatening posing. I guess she feared him now because she backed down quickly and was basically groveling to be spared before Mandy showed up and collected her wayward Tzimisce.

Before long, we were back at Cloud Nine and settling in for the day.

Heero found his way into my bed again. I was more than happy to have him there. We were cuddled up to each other when the sun started to rise and took us to dreamland with it.

**XXX**

**Glossary!**

_**Haven**_- the place a Vampire lives/hides during the day.

**Character Spotlight!**

_**Quatre Rebarba Winner-**_Why did I make him Lasombra? Well, think about it. Quatre is a natural born leader, can be sneaky as hell and I liked the idea of him commanding shadows. That and it presented the perfect opportunity to show of his more devious side.


	14. Calm before the Poof

. Sorry for the long wait! School is annoying and well, larp started up again n.n; Thank Gods my plot is no were near as complex as my larp's plot.

The standards disclaimers apply: see other chapters.

**XXXX **

You know, I'm not even awake five minutes and someone barges in the room.

Yeah, that was the start of my evening. I was just beginning to wake up when some asshole bursts through the door. I felt Heero tense and quickly sit up beside me. I buried my head under my pillow. Let Heero take care of it.

"Heero! Duo! We need to get to Elysium. Prince's orders."

So the little bastard that opened the door was Quatre. Must make him suffer later. 5 more minutes, that's all I want. Is that so hard to ask?

"Why?"

Good Question Heero. Why the hell was I being disturbed? I pulled the covers over my head and groaned. "Go away."

There was a short silence. My guess was that they were busy being amused. That works for me. Silence is my friend. It lets me sleep. Sleep is good.

"Milliardo say's they figured out who hired the Nosferatu."

I cracked an eye open. "Damn it." That was worth waking up for. So not fair. I actually get to sleep in and this is what I get. Well, at least it's a good reason.

"The sooner you get up Duo, the sooner you can go. "

I grumbled as I tossed the pillow and blankets off of me and glared at Quatre. "You know, some of us love to sleep in once in awhile."

That earned me a snicker from both of them. Now what?

"Duo, your hair looks like a rats nest."

My hand shot up to run down my braid. Shit. It was going to take forever to brush. Damn it. I can't win and the day just started.

**XXXXXXX**

I grumbled to myself as we walked up to Milliardo's office. It took me an hour to brush my hair. Yes, an hour. You heard right. So yeah, we were late. Sue me.

I felt a hand ghost down my braid. Good Heero. I needed that. We took our seats in front of blonde's desk. He was sitting there with Treize standing behind him. Both Noin and Une were standing at attention. Okay, military stances, this must be serious.

"I'm glad to see that you finally showed up."

I crossed my arms and slouched in my chair, yeah, immaturity thy name is Duo. Leave me alone. "Yeah well, some of us would love to still be one with our pillows. Why not just tell us over the phone? That way I could sleep and the guys could figure out a battle plan."

That got me a raised eyebrow and a light hit on the back of the head from Quatre. Gee everyone must be against me today. What gives?

"Thank you Mr. Winner. Mr. Maxwell needed that I am sure. Now down to business." He pulled out the now infamous mystery journal. "We found out who hired the Nosferatu. Surprisingly, our resident Malkavians volunteered the information.

That nearly made me do a double take. How the hell did they find out something like that?

"According to Hilde, the Tremere were paying quite the sum for access to your handy work Mr. Maxwell."

Wince. Shit. I hate Tremere. Those lousy bastards are worse than Giovanni when it comes to the things I do. The only difference is that Tremere want to dissect me. Literally. I'm told that can be very painful. Hopefully I'll never find out.

"What is being done about their involvement?"

Go Quatre. That's what you're here for, to ask all the right questions. At least, I hope that's why he's around. But then again, who knows? I sure as hell don't know what Deathscythe has up its sleeve. If I did, this would have been a lot easier.

"Currently, nothing. The Tremere are denying anything. They claim that the ones that attacked you were Tremere Antitributes that are not under any control of the local regent."

"Impossible. The Tremere usually hunt down rouges or any wayward of their clan."

I looked over at Trowa. He had this scowl on his face. I guess he didn't buy the story any more than I did.

"There isn't any more Tremere Antitribute."

We all turned to look at Quatre. Q-ball was also scowling, well, more like frowning.

"What do you mean Mr. Winner? There are Antitribute for most of the clans, why not Tremere?"

Good Question Treize. I want to know the answer to that to.

Quatre remained silent for a moment before speaking. "There was one in my pack about 10 years ago. However, for some reason his clan called him to Mexico City. He never returned. No Tremere that went to that gathering returned."

"How can you be so sure Q?"

"I have talked to other pack leaders. I specifically talked to those that had Tremere in their packs. None of them returned. No one has seen them since and no one knows what happened. All investigations have turned up nothing."

Both Millardo and Treize looked interested in this bit of information. "If that is so, then they are indeed lying. Unfortunately, we cannot be sure without an aura check on them."

"That would require one of them to leave their haven." Trowa said softly

"That would be the problem."

**XXXXX**

20 minutes of banging our head against the wall and trying to figure something out left us down in the main part of the club.

We were stuck. There was nothing we could really do until the Tremere made their next move. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? I feel like a fucking sitting duck here waiting for the hunter to get off his ass and shoot me. So not funny. Damn it.

The five of us found ourselves seated around one of the smaller tables scattered around the club.

Yeah, I had my head in my arms. Yeah, I was ignoring the chatter around me. On the plus side, Heero was stroking my braid again. So relaxing. I so need that right now.

"What's wrong with him?"

I moved my head enough to look up through my bangs. Hilde. She was standing there with Relena hiding behind her back. From what I could see of Relena, she was wearing something almost normal. Well, for her anyway. She had on an oversized light pink sweater and a pair of jeans. Hilde just was in her usual grey T-shirt and ripped jeans. Nothing ever changed with Hilde, unlike Relena.

"Millie told them what we found." Relena ducked back behind Hilde after speaking.

Sigh. "You know Relena, I asked them, not you."

There was an apologetic whimper.

I couldn't help it. They cracked me up. I chuckled softly as I lifted my head off of my arms and propped it up on my palm. "There's never a dull moment around with you two around."

Hilde sighed. "You don't know the half of it Duo."

"You're right, I don't."

"That's probably for the best." She stated as she glanced behind herself to look at Relena.

"What's wrong with her?"

There goes Quat being all concerned about people.

"She thinks that the trouble is now going to follow us around. I keep telling her that's ridiculous. Why would they want us?" Hilde sighed again and turned back towards us. "She's been like this since earlier tonight."

"I wouldn't discount anything she says Hilde. She seems to have quite the streak of being right." Trowa sounded almost thoughtful. I wonder what's going through his mind.

Hilde rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You don't know her like I do. Rel's always been odd. Well, odder than most. This is nothing new with her."

Now Wufei had to put in his two cents. "Then perhaps you should listen anyway. There's no harm in it."

I rolled my eyes as I watched the conversation. The only one's not saying anything anymore were myself, Heero and Relena. Not that she said much anyway. She kept peeking over Hilde's shoulder at us and diving back down. It was kind of cute in that little shy child type way.

Heero must have seen where I was looking. I could practically taste the amusement coming off of him.

"I never know what to make of her."

I nodded in agreement with his statement. "Yeah, she's a puzzle alright."

**XXXXX**

Hilde talked with Trowa and Wu for a while before disappearing into the crowd. Relena had sat herself down across from Heero and me and stared at us. With out blinking. For a good 20 minutes. I couldn't handle it anymore.

"Relena, why are you staring at us?"

She tilted her head and smiled at us. "Cause I want to see when you will disappear silly."

Okay that wasn't the answer I was expecting. "What do you mean 'disappear'?"

She giggled. "One of you is going to go poof soon. I want to see it."

I looked up at Heero. He was looking troubled as he stared at the mystery in front of us.

Talk about sounding ominous.

**XXXX**

Relena finally dashed off about an hour later. It was an hour of conversation that basically talked around in circles. I'm beginning to suspect that she never gives a completely straight answer.

Heero had started petting my braid again. Trowa and Quatre had wandered off with Wufei in tow about a half an hour ago. Okay, not so much wander off as Johann came by and engaged them in conversation. It worked for me. I could still feel them somewhere in the club. They called to me like a beacon in the night. I blame Deathscythe.

"He looks so peaceful."

Groan. Victoria just had to ruin my peace and quiet.

"Hn."

Laugh. "Some keeper he is. He's not even aware of what's going on in here."

I cracked open an eye and glared up at her. I wasn't going to lift my head out of my arms for her. "Fuck off."

That got me a big grin. "What? Did your little cat-eyes keep you up all day?"

Ouch. Low blow.

Growl. Go Heero! Sic the taunting bitch!

"Oh, have I offended? "

I knew Heero was glaring at her.

"Good. Maybe it will keep you on your toes. Heaven knows you'll need it in this city. Now get up and do your job you lazy mortal."

Okay, the head was up. My glare joined Heero's. She may be helpful at times, but she's still a bitch.

Deathscythe stirred. She laughed. "Cute. I see I've angered your little power pet. You know I wonder. Who would win in an all out fight? Me or you? Tis something to think about, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, and I intend to never find out you flesh crafting bitch."

"Gasp! Your words! They wound me!" she brought her hand up to her forehead and rested the back of the hand against her skin. She did a fake swoon before smirking. "Try harder. There isn't an insult I haven't heard yet."

I scowled as I just let my mouth get the best of me. "Oh yeah? " Deathscythe whispered to me. "Well at least I'm not a Camarilla dog for a piece of land."

Her playful mood disappeared in an instant. Oops. I'm in trouble.

The shadows around her darkened as she towered over us. I shrunk in my seat. Heero was tensing up. I think I hit a nerve there.

She sneered. "No, you're worse. You sold out for money. At least I am doing my job to keep my home, you sell out little blood bank."

I winced. Yeah, definitely hit a nerve there.

There was a soft growl beside me. I glanced up to see Heero with his eyes trained on her, ready to attack at a moments notice.

I was cowering and so was Deathscythe, the little shit. It got me into this mess. How was I supposed to know that her reason for serving the Camarilla was a sore spot?

Victoria opened her mouth to say something more. To my relief a black tentacle wrapped around her face, blocking her mouth from saying whatever was on the tip of her tongue. She turned her head to glare at the one cutting off her tirade. Hell, I looked up to see who saved me. Johann. He was standing there with an amused look on his face.

"You're over reacting Victoria. Calm down and shut up will you?"

She crossed her arms and glared at him. After a few moments he removed the tentacle. I was surprised to see it slither up his sleeve and out of site.

"Oh shove it yourself Johann."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you said to her hit a nerve. Don't do it again. I wont save your sorry ass a second time."

I just nodded. "Uh, yeah, thanks."

I got a grunt and an annoyed look in response. I'm guessing the good mood is dead now. Okay, more than dead.

We watched as my two walking nightmares started to bicker and wander off in another direction. You know, I never know what to make of those two. They argue like an old married couple. Or siblings. I'm not sure which.

Heero relaxed after they wandered off.

"Where did that come from?"

I blinked and looked up at him. "Where did what come from?"

"The remark that set her off."

I sighed. "Deathscythe whispered it to me. It told me that she works for the Camarilla in order to keep her haven. Well, the one that she calls home anyway. It's somewhere lost in Italy."

He nodded "Hn."

Well at least Heero was back to normal.

**XXXX**

Bathroom break, bathroom break. Get the hell out of my way.

Okay so sue me. I'm still human and humans still go to the bathroom. So guess where I'm headed? Yeah. The potty. Deal with it.

I grumbled as I weaved my way through the mass of vampires. You know, I didn't realize how many vamps were actually in this city. Hell, I didn't even know half their names.

Ah, the bathroom. Great, I felt like exploding.

Few moments later my business was done. Damn that felt better. Full bladders are no fun.

I turned around to leave only to see the door open and something get rolled inside. There was a soft hissing noise and smoke started to creepy towards me.

Deathscythe raced towards the gas and the door. There was a kindred blocking the door. Someone I couldn't touch. Deathscythe's wind started to kicked up the smoke, spreading it. Shit. This is so not good.

"Go! Find them." Deathscythe raced out of the room, past the kindred guarding it. I felt it getting farther and farther away as the smoke over came me. Knock out gas, Damn it. I hate this stuff. It always leaves me with a huge ass headache when I wake up.

I felt it hit my boys.

I blacked out.

**XXXXX**

**Glossary!**

I got nothing this chapter. If there's anything you want to know about, leave it in a review please!**  
**

**Character Spotlight!**

_**Trowa Barton: **_Why Brujah? Why a clan that has a short fuse and a cause? Well for one, there are ways of getting around the short fuse problem and those aways fit Trowa perfectly. Plus add in his background as a mercenary and it's a perfect fit! At least I think so anyway.


	15. Chantry Rescue

SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!!

If I'm lucky I'll get a chapter out a week, sorry guys. Classes keep my busy and so does LARP. Though without LARP, I wouldnt have been inspired to write this so yeah...

**XXXX **

"Make sure the wards are strong enough. We don't need 'her' returning."

What the hell hit me? My body felt like a ton of bricks and the bricks were sitting on my head. I shook my head as my memory started to come back. Headache? Check.

I hate knockout gas. There could have been a better way to do this. I mean, come on, they're kindred and can do all sorts of weird shit. Why knockout gas?

"It looks like the subject is waking up."

I winced as I tried to open my eyes. That's a no go. Too bright, damn it. Where the hell was I? I sure as hell didn't recognize any of the voices. And since when did I become a 'subject'? I'm a living breathing person damn it! Show some respect!

I tried to slowly move to sit up. Why was I sore? All I did was fall down. Yeah, that should leave maybe a bruise or two or a giant bump on my head if I hit it. Not this muscle weary, bone aching, someone shoot me pain.

I ran a hand over my face and froze. Something didn't feel right. My hands quickly ran over the rest of my body. Then I found what was wrong. My braid was missing. My head feels lighter than it has in years. I ran my hands through my short-butchered hair. Whoever then fuck cut this sure as hell didn't know what they were doing. It was uneven, choppy, and a mess. My braid was gone. Whimper.

My hands brushed against something else unusual. There was something out of place on my neck. Along the back of my neck there felt like a series of upraised bumps. It took me a few moments to realize they were stitches.

I whimpered and hugged my knees to my chest. What the hell happened after I was knocked out? Where am I? Where are the guys? Where is Deathscythe? I feel very alone. I was completely by my self for once.

It took me awhile to realize I was in some sort of cage. It was low enough that I couldn't stand up straight. For a few moments I stared straight ahead. My eyes refusing to recognize what they were seeing. When my brain finally figured it out, I was frozen. Whoever they are had something that looked like a cross between a snake and a man floating in a giant glass tube of liquid. The creature had no skin. Its organs were exposed for the world to see. The horrific part was that the lungs were still working and the heart was still beating. What the hell?

A shadow fell across my cage. I looked up to see a figure in a white lab coat staring down at me. For some reason I couldn't see any distinguishing features of this character. Hell, I couldn't even tell if it was male or female. What the fuck was going on?

The figure wrote something down on a clipboard and made a comment to someone behind them. "The subject is disoriented, yet awake."

"Give the subject a few more moments before we proceed."

I didn't like the sound of that. What the hell were they going to do? I have a funny feeling that this wont be pleasant.

**XXXXXX**

My screams echoed off the walls of the laboratory.

Yeah, it was like something out of a cheesy B movie. You know, the basic mad scientist set up with random gizmos and shit. Only add in a few occult flavors here and there and then you have the right idea.

I was right. What they were doing to me wasn't pleasant. They pulled me from the cage and used some sort of fucking power to get me strapped down to a fucking table. Then the pain started. No warning, just sharp, stabbing pain. It wasn't long before I started screaming.

"The exploratory surgery is complete. He appears to be a normal human without 'Her' "

"The wards seem to be holding 'Her' at bay as well."

"Of course. Those are the strongest wards we have ever come up with."

"Cocky aren't we?"

"Of course."

I whimpered as my two tormentors bickered over me. At least it's keeping the sharp pointy objects away from me.

**XXXX**

I don't know how long I was in that cage. The sessions went in cycles. Every one was different. Every time I had a new injury to add to the list.

Deathscythe was still gone. Where was it? I need to get out of here. I sighed as I rested my head against the bars. My captors had provided me with a simple white shirt and white boxers. The shirt had been clean when I woke up in it the first time, but now it was torn and slightly bloody.

I stared at the door of my cage. A simple padlock, that's all that stood between freedom and me. Damn it. If I still had my braid, there at least was a chance I could get out. I had lock picks in there. Well, sort of. A hairpin or two really, but hey, it would have been better than nothing.

I looked around my little cell. Nothing. The food tray they gave me every night was one of those Styrofoam things with plastic utensils. Completely useless. Tonight's dinner was chicken. The bones of the wing and leg piece were sitting there staring at me.

I idly reached over and picked up the wing bones. You know, they looked like they might fit in the lock. Hell, it was worth a shot. I shuffled over to the lock and reached around with the bone in my hand. This was ridiculous. If this worked then there is a God. I'll repent and start going to church right away.

Click. What the fuck? I stared at the lock dumbly as it hung there with part of a chicken bone poking out of it. What the fuck? Yes, Duo, there is a God. He likes making you miserable.

I crawled out of the cage and looked around. Oh come on, I can't be this fucking lucky. There was no one in sight. What, did I get hit with the lucky stick tonight or something? What the hell is going on?

I quickly searched the room for anything useful. Well what do you know, my braid. Why the hell did they keep this? Why was it in a glass case? What the fuck? Hey, it even has it's own label in Latin. That's kind of neat. Well, it would be if it wasn't my braid. I looked around and saw a few other items in glass cases. I really don't want to know why they have a mummy's hand and a monkey's paw under glass. I seriously don't want to know.

Don't they believe in locking things down? The case had no locks. Wicked. I can get back my hairpins. And I did. Then I mourned my braid. Good-bye faithful companion. I will miss you.

**XXXX**

I quietly made my way down the hallway, trying to be careful. It was a while before I came to another room at the end of the hall. There was nowhere else to go. Looks like I have no choice. Shall we see what's behind door number 1?

Okay, this place looked like a library. With test tubes and bottles and vials all over the place. There was still no one around. Is it daytime right now? There was no way of telling in this place.

I walked pass a desk with this ancient looking book open. What it was opened to caught my attention. The title on the page read 'Mortis Spiritis.' There was a picture of a woman with black hair and white skin. Her eyes were black as night and she was clothed in shadows. Her hair faded into the shadows as she stared out from the page.

'The Spirit of Death. She walked the world in the time of the Second City. She was a woman born of life and of death. This woman caught the attention of our noble ancestor and he tried to embrace her. To his surprise she was immune to the kiss. Because of this she was thought of as dangerous. She was cursed to exist without a body, forever sharing with another mortal. The time will come when she returns to the world of Cainites, starting the cycle to Gehenna.'

What the hell was this? I flipped through the book. Thin bloods, Week of Nightmares, the waking of Antediluvians. What the hell was this? Some sort of kindred end of times prophecy? What does this have to do with me?

Creak. I froze. Someone was here. I ducked under the desk as I heard footsteps draw nearer.

I winced at the tight space and sudden action pulled at some stitches. Yeah, I was covered in them. I know they are going to scar. It won't be pretty either. I wonder if I can convince Victoria to fix me up. Let's just get out of here first hey?

There was the shuffling of feet and the sound of someone moving books. I tried to remain as still as I could. I've gotten this far without being discovered, I'll be happy to keep it that way.

After what felt like forever, whoever it was wandered out of the room. I waited a few minutes more before carefully getting out from under the desk.

Okay, now for a way out. There is no way out. Did I miss something somewhere? I growled as I left the room. I tried to stick to the shadows. What the hell? This was a straight hallway. I blew at my bangs in frustration as I placed a hand against the wall and started to walk.

A few moments later I nearly screamed as I fell through the wall. Stairs. I found stairs. I looked behind me and saw a brick wall. In front of me was stairs. What the hell? This place was fucked up. Well, I might as well walk ahead.

**XXXXXXXX**

When will these stairs end? I swear I've been walking for over 10 minutes; I lost sight of the door ages ago. The stairs just seemed to stretch forever.

Another 10 minutes. Still going nowhere but down. Hold on, there's a light up ahead. Hallelujah. An exit.

Why hello. I think I just found the armory. Damn, I was hit with the good luck stick today. There were weapons, lots of them. Hey! That looks like my gun. It is my gun! I got my baby back! Now lets shoot something.

I left the armory with my gun, several clips of ammo and a set of throwing daggers and yes, with a few wooden stakes also.

I was armed and ready to face the world. Of course, I was now lacking a shirt and wandering around with two stakes held to my hips by the waistband of my boxers. Not comfortable, but hey, I'll deal with it if it means I live. My shirt was being used as a sling to carry the extra ammo and throwing knives.

I probably looked ridiculous, like some escaped autopsy patient that's armed. I sure as hell felt like it. I am going to kill those assholes for this.

Stop. Something didn't feel right. I looked around. It was getting darker in here. There was definitely something wrong. I clicked the safety off the gun and hugged the wall. Paranoia don't fail me now.

I pressed my back against the wall and slowly moved forward, gun at the ready. I wasn't going to take any chances. No way. I like living thank you very much.

There was someone talking up ahead. I couldn't make the words out, but hey, do I really need to? I kept to the shadows as they started to come into view. I prayed that the white I was wearing didn't catch their attention.

Their backs were turned to me. Two men in lab coats were standing there talking about something. I leveled my gun at the one nearest to me. I fired. I watched in satisfaction as he fell. The other guy was startled and had started to yell. I fired again. He went down too. Either both of them are ghouls or they were too young to dust. Then again, if they were vamps, it should have taken more than a head shot to kill them. So, I'm betting on ghouls.

I remained still for a few minutes to make sure no one was running to see what happened. What luck. Nothing. Okay, it must definitely be daylight out. That's the only excuse I can come up with for this.

I continued forward. Damn it this place was like a maze. I placed my hand against the wall again and started to walk. Hey it worked last time. I caught myself as my hand went through the wall. I cautiously leaned in and looked around. Err… this must be a trophy hall or something. There were creatures that I've never seen before. Whoa… was that thing made of stone? What the hell is that?

I stared at the stone figure thing for a while. It blinked. What the fuck? I slowly started backing away. Ugly stone figures don't blink.

It moved. Okay, gun leveled at it now. It watched me as I backed away. Why didn't I notice the yellow eyes before? What the hell is that thing?

I quickly left the room as the thing started to come towards me. I high tailed it down the hall as I heard this screech as something hit the wall. Okay, so big and ugly can't get out of that room. That's nice to know. Unfortunately, you can still hear it. I think it's time to go.

I continued down the hall way for God knows how long. I kept my hand on the wall, you know, just in case.

Unfortunately, I got nothing. Hold on, I spoke to soon. Was that a breeze I was feeling? Yep. Damn, it's a cold one too. You know, boxers don't keep you warm. Not in the slightest. Regardless, this may be my best clue to get out of this fucking place.

Several minutes later found me at a wooden door that was partially propped open. Okay, that's weird. I've seen nothing but walls and kept falling through doorways the entire time here. Why the hell am I just finding a door now?

I ease it open and peek around. Holy fuck it's a forest. Well, more like a courtyard with a glass roof. I think it's called an atrium. Not sure though. It took me a few moments to realize that yes, Duo, it is day outside.

I stepped passed the door and walked out into the nice warm sunlight. Damn, did that feel good. Better than that cold lab any day. I just soaked up the sun for a few minutes while I tried to figure out what to do. As far as I could see, there were no other doors other than the one I came out of and I sure as hell wasn't going to head back that way.

So that leaves exploring the atrium thing. Joy. Just what I've always wanted to do, explore a vampire's garden. Note my sarcasm please.

All that's here are a bunch of trees, shrubs and plants. I don't know what half of these plants are for, but I'm willing to bet it ain't pleasant.

I noticed that the shadows were getting longer. Fuck. Sun's going to be setting soon. That's not a good thing. That's really not a good thing.

I managed to find a part of the wall and placed my hand against it. Walking time. Sort of… Do you have any idea how hard it is to walk along a wall when there are bushes and vines and roots in your way? It's fucking hard.

Fuck! Okay, I admit it, I screamed. You would too if you tripped over a tree root and went head first into a wall, only to fall through it and down a flight of stairs.

Whimper. That fucking hurt. I ran my hands up and down my arms. I don't think anything's broken. My ribs sure as hell feel like shit. I wouldn't be surprised if I bruised and/or broke one or two.

Wince. Okay, so nothing may be broken, but shit. Some of the stitches ripped open. There was blood starting to run down my midsection. That's going to be a bitch. Shit. Blood. They can smell blood. Whimper. Oh come on, I was having such good luck too.

Sigh. Might as well see where the fuck this leads.

Several minutes and a few near fatal accidents later, I found myself back where I started originally. Fuck. Back in the Lab. Fuck.

Well, at least this time I'm armed. That's one point in my favor.

The sun was setting, I knew that much from the little garden walk through, and I'm bleeding. Well, was bleeding. It stopped a while ago. Not that it does me any good anyway.

I wandered around the lab again. There was nothing new from the last time I was here. Though, I wish there was a clock or something some where. That would be helpful. That would be really helpful.

Fuck. Okay, so I was pacing with a gun in my hand. Do you blame me? I want out of here. I want my own bed with Heero naked, surrounded by rose petals and a bow around his neck. Or the bow could be other places. Either's fine by me.

Footsteps. That's not a sound I want to hear. I stopped pacing and tensed up. I leveled my gun at the doorway and then waited. I could see shadows on the wall. Okay, lets see how many I can kill before they get the hint. It's time for the blood splatter game.

The first one comes in sight. It's a red haired guy in a lab coat.

Splat. Hm… I'd have to say ten points for the wide spray on the wall. Wait, no, that's 15. There's brain tissue in that. Is that part of the skull? All right, 20 points it is.

The guy that the dead dude was talking to froze. I took aim and shot without hesitation. Now that one definitely looks like an eagle's wingspan. I'd have to say 50 points for that one.

I wonder how long it will take before they realize that there were gunshots? I doubt it will be too long. Either way, lets see how many I can pick off.

You know, those two were either ghouls or too young to dust. I wonder which? Who cares, they're dead now.

It wasn't long before I heard more footsteps. These ones sounded like the person making them was running. Well, what do you know? I get to practice on moving targets!

The first one came into view. I fired. Well, there was the splatter on the wall…but he kept moving. Well shit. I think my luck just ran out. This fucker was kindred.

I fired at him several more times before he finally dusted. The guy just refused to die. I took aim at the guy that raced in right behind the first one. Shit.

Yelp. Dodge. Crap. Talk about being able to take a hit. I'm hitting him, but it isn't slowing him down. What the fuck?

I dive behind a nearby table. And then scamper to the other end. I'm so not getting caught again. I'd die before I let them catch me.

The sound of breaking glass followed me as vials and flasks were knocked off the tables in the deadly game of cat and mouse we played.

I nearly froze up when I felt something brush against my senses.

'Outside. Head outside.'

Hell, that sounds like good advice to me.

I dodged away from Mr. Hard Hits and raced for the doorway. I nearly slipped on the blood and other bits that covered the floor and wall. Huh, they were ghouls. Go figure.

I placed my hand against the wall and ran. The moment I felt it go through the doorway I turned into it and nearly fell down the stairs. I caught myself and ran down them. I reached the hallway from before and ran. The atrium. There. Was this outside enough? Please tell me it was. Please.

I looked up. Stars. Full moon.

'Let me in.'

The voice was stronger now. What the hell? Where was that coming from?

I looked around the garden and hell there was nothing here.

Then it went pitch black. I look around wildly and see nothing. Literally. I look up and nearly scream.

There was a woman's form pressed against the glass. Her white face with her pitch black eyes stared down at me.

Yeah, I'll admit, I screamed like a little girl and fell over.

There was the sound of footsteps racing into the room.

"She's here."

"See, the wards are still holding. She can't get in."

"But for how long?"

I looked behind me to spot two vampires behind me in the doorway looking up. One of them had messy white hair while the other had messy black hair. The white haired guy was as pale as moonlight with golden eyes. The other had dark blue eyes and the same pale skin. I recognized those voices. They were the ones that were there when I first woke up.

'Duo let me in.'

I tore my gaze way from them to stare up at the woman pressed against the glass. Her eyes were still trained on me. Who the hell was she? She looked so fucking creepy.

"I see she wants her host back."

"Of course she does. She can't live without him."

I look back at them. What the fuck are they talking about? Who is she? Why the fuck does she want me?

"Looks like the little Necromancer is confused."

"Of course he is Moon, he doesn't know what she is."

"Very true Night. He's nothing special with out her."

What are they talking about? I looked up at her again. She was staring down at me. She was smiling at me with her blue tinted lips. You know, that looks like it's the only color on her.

I turn to the two vamps. Moon and Night was it? Talk about weird names. "Alright, who the hell is she?"

Both of them looked at me and grinned this identical grin. God that was creepy.

"She is Mortis Spiritis."

"And she's looking for her host."

What? What the fuck? "Err…"

I guess my confusion was funny to them. They both broke out laughing.

'Say my name.'

"Her." The white haired Moon pointed up.

"You already know her Mr. Maxwell." Night was smirking as he looked up. "In fact, you've known her your entire life."

What? How could I know her? That didn't make sense. Who the hell was she? She cant be what that book in the library described. Could she?

'Say my name.'

I looked back up at her. She was giving me a sad smile, her eyes pleading. Who was she?

Crash. Rumble. The ground shook beneath me. What the hell was that?

Moon and Night exchanged secretive looks. "They found the Chantry."

"Let the Gargoyles take care of the intruders. That's what they're there for anyway."

'Say my name.'

I felt someone grab me and haul me off the ground. I yelped. You would too if you suddenly started to move. I looked up to see who grabbed me. Night had me by the arm and was hauling me towards the doorway. I gripped my gun and leveled it at his heart. He ignored me and smirked. I fired. Shit. This guy was smart. Bulletproof vest. Damn it. It looks like my luck is running out.

'Say my name'

He was dragging me out of the atrium I tried to fire at his partner with the same results. Not even a headshot was working. Shit

I felt something faintly tug at my mind, pleading with me for something. It felt like death…

'Say my name.'

She tasted of death. She was death. I struggled against Night. I need to get back into the atrium.

I growled as I lashed out and kicked him in the stomach. I knocked the wind out of him, making him let me go. I took off back into the open.

'Say my name'

"Deathscythe!"

Crash. Glass rained down around me. I covered my head with my arms and closed my eyes. It was a miracle that the glass missed me. It didn't miss Night. Or Moon. They were riddled with glass. Now that looked painful.

I looked up to see the woman standing before me. She was smiling. She reached out to touch me. I stood still at I watched her. She gently placed a hand on my bare chest. She was so cold. She was as cold as death.

'Thank you.'

I shivered as her hand sank into my skin. She started to unravel into wind and shadow and dissipate.

I felt the presence I had been missing. I felt complete again. Well, not quite. I needed Heero to be completely complete. No, that wasn't quite right. I need all my boys to be complete.

I felt the familiar bonds brush against my senses. My boys were close. They were tearing apart the defenses to get in here.

**XXX**

Night and Moon were in no condition to stop me as I raced down the hall. Whatever was hiding things before had been stripped away.

'This way.'

I followed her instructions as we raced through this damn maze. You know, this was easier with Deathscythe at the helm. She knew where we were going.

Shake. Rumble. Sounds of bodies being slammed into the wall. We were getting closer to the source.

I rounded a corner and nearly had to back pedal because of flying bodies. The sights before me made me stop and stare. Quatre was throwing bodies around with his tentacles and throwing objects around as well. I watched in morbid fascination as he tore someone apart. Literally.

Trowa was gunning down kindred that were attacking from the distance. Heero had gone feral. I knew the blue-eyed leopard was him. It felt like him. That and I'd know those eyes anywhere. Wufei was beheading people left and right.

I felt her react. She raced out of me towards our boys. In her wake she left death and destruction amongst our enemies. Kindred started to age and wither into dust at her touch. I watched. Here there wasn't much I could do right now. If I tried to shoot, I might hit the guys. Hell, besides, you know, dying, there isn't much I could do right now.

So I watched. After the last enemy was gone, Quatre spotted me.

"Duo? Is that you?" I could hear the hesitation. It took me a moment to realize why he would hesitate. I was missing my braid, bloody, and have stitches all over. I must have looked like something out of a botched Frankenstein experiment.

The leopard took one look at me and bounded over. As it ran towards me, it's shape started to shift and flow. By the time he reached me, he was Heero again.

He swept me up into a hug and buried his face in my shoulder as he held me. I realized that for the first time in ages, I was relaxed. I hugged him back and leaned against him. God I missed him.

**XXXXX**

**Glossary!**

**_Second City_**- After the Great Flood, the surviving vampires (by now living on a rich diet of each other's vitae), reassembled while the descendants of Noah spread across the earth. The surviving undead, consisting of the modern Antediluvians and the Second Generation co-opted a human city, turning it into a smaller version of Enoch. This city, never granted a name, eventually collapsed under civil war - the Second Generation were slain and Caine returned to judge his descendants, cursing each of the clans with a distinct weakness and then shattering the city.

**_Thin bloods_**- The Curse of Caine has existed for so long, it has finally begun to weaken. Elders' blood, passed from one childe to the next for generations, no longer holds the potency it once had. Too many childer have been Embraced in the Final Nights - and reckoning must come for these illegitimate vampires. If it does not, the world may end.

**_Week of Nightmares-_** is the name given by vampires to the week in which Zapathasura, Antediluvian of the Ravnos clan, awakened. Though no actual date were indicated in cannon material it most likely occured between June 28 to July 4, 1999. Many of the concurances and the fallout from this week are noted by various supernatural groups as a signs of the end-times. By the vampires it is generally seen as the beginning of the Final Nights, the time of signs and portents leading to Gehenna.

**_Antediluvians-_**are the founders of the thirteen vampire clans. They are attributed to be vampires of incalculable power, each of whom survived the Great Flood (ante, before; diluv, flood: hence antediluvian, one who comes before the flood) and who are believed to either be in torpor, manipulating the Jyhad, or dead.

**Character Spotlight!**

_**Chang Wufei- **_Why Brujah? Well, it fit him. Especially since some Brujah's are scholars. So I used that part of his background and expanded.


	16. Aftermath

Sorry for the long wait! Sorry! College is hell. However, here is the final chapter for this lovely story. But don't worry! There will be a sequel. It may take a bit to get it out, but there will be a sequel. Just bare with me please!

Disclaimer: You know the drill, Don't own them.

**XXX**

" Let's see what I have to work with."

I hesitated as I sat down in front of Victoria. Yeah, after my rescue we made tracks back to Cloud Nine. When we got there our friends Victoria and Johann greeted us. With them were our lovely prince and his groupies. Yeah, I'm full of sarcasm right now.

Heero rested his hands on my shoulder as what was once my nightmare approached. I was almost happy to see her. Yeah, Tremere were my new nightmare.

She poked and prodded me for a good few minutes. Every time she did so, I jumped a little. Heero would tighten his hand on my shoulder to try and get me to relax. Okay so she still was a nightmare, just not as big of one anymore.

"I can fix you. That's not the issue. The issue is what did they do to you. Until I can give you a full examination I cant be sure if anything I do will be helpful or not. However, I can give you your hair back right away if you want."

I looked up at her and stared dumbly for a moment. "Huh?"

She laughed at me. "I can lengthen your hair no problem. I can even change its color if you wish."

"Okay? Err… Sure?"

Victoria laughed again at my response as she moved Heero aside. I tensed as I felt her stoke my hair. So not relaxing when she does it.

A few moments later she stopped. "There I've restored it to its original length."

I reached behind me and felt the mass of soft silky hair. It was back! Oh hair how I've missed you! I pulled it over my shoulder and started to pet my own hair as I nuzzled it. Okay so I'm really attached to my hair. Leave me alone, I've had a bad…err. How long was I gone?

I looked over at the guys. "Hey guys? How long was I a test subject?"

The boys tensed a little. It was Quatre that broke the silence. "Well, it took us a while to find you. "

That didn't sound good. What weren't they saying? "Guys, how long?"

There was a pregnant pause when Millardo spoke up. "You were gone for over two weeks Mr. Maxwell."

I froze. Two weeks and I was still alive? What the hell? Was that place really that hard to find?

The boys had remained quiet for far to long. I turned to them and stared. "Two weeks?"

It was Quatre that hesitantly nodded. "Yes Duo, two weeks."

"Deathscythe was having just as hard time finding you."

I turned to Heero and stared at him. Okay so I was in shock. That entire hell was only two weeks? It felt like months. I thought it would never end.

"Duo, please say something…" I turned to Wufei. He seemed to look desperate to hear something other than a two-word answer out of me. I would have never imagined the strong Brujah scholar to look that pleading.

"Mr. Maxwell?" I barely noticed a hand waving in front of my face. I turned to see Une standing next to me frowning. "You're in shock."

I just nodded as I entangled my fingers into my hair. I vaguely noticed that my hair now had highlights it didn't have before. Reddish highlights mixed in with its usual chestnut color. There was some blonde as well.

"Obviously we wont be able to ask him about his captivity today."

For once Une was right. I wasn't ready to answer any questions. I wanted my bed, Heero and to just hide for a week.

"I think it's time we left." Milliardo ushered his entourage out. Victoria and Johann were the next to leave.

"I will be back tomorrow night Maxwell. I fully intend to find out what they did to you."

I just nodded as Victoria left. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that.

"Duo, you should go to bed."

I looked up at Quatre. He looked worried. Hell, they all looked worried. I just nodded and slowly stood u and walked to my room. I shut the door behind me and crawled into bed.

**XXXXXXX**

Whimper. Thrashing. Pain. Screaming.

I bolted up in bed and nearly fell out. I scooted away from the bed and fell back onto my pillows. I was covered in a cold sweat and breathless. The nightmares…

There was the sound of my door opening. I glanced at it and saw Heero in the doorway. I watched as he made is way over to the bed and sat down on the side "You were screaming."

I just nodded as I lay there and curled up in the blankets. "Yeah, I know…"

There was silence for a while. "Do you want me to sleep in here?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

I felt him slide under the covers as I rolled over on my side facing away from him. I felt him scoot up behind me and slip his arms around my waist. I tensed as he brushed past some of the stitches and scars on my side. Okay so I was sensitive about those. Some of the stitches still itched.

Heero stroked my hair gently as he held me. I guess he felt me tense and was trying to calm me down. It wasn't helping.

The door creaked open again. "How is he Heero?"

Quatre. I could feel him and the rest behind the door. I sighed and pulled the covers over my head.

"He's having a hard time sleeping."

I felt them slip into the room and sit on the bed around me. I felt someone reach out and touch my thigh gently and give me a reassuring pat. I'm willing to bet that was Q-ball.

"Would it be okay if we all stayed here today? The sun's going to be up soon."

Fei sounded unsure and nervous. That didn't sound like Wufei. I poked my head out from under my blankets. All of them looked worried. I nodded. "Y-yeah."

They didn't need a second invite; they crawled into bed and under the covers. Heero tightened his grip on my waist as Quatre curled up beside me with Trowa and Wufei next to him. We were all one giant puppy pile. I have to admit, it was comforting.

I was soon drifting off, as they all feel asleep for the day.

**XXXXXXX**

I felt someone stroke my hair as I started to wake up. I snuggled close to the person in front of me and sighed softly. I didn't want to wake up. I was in my happy, floating between consciousness and unconsciousness place. I like that place.

"Duo, time to wake up. Victoria's here."

I groaned as Heero whispered into my ear. I don't want to see her. I want to sleep. Please let me sleep.

"Come on Duo, she's here to fix you. We can't keep her waiting."

Now Quat was starting in. Why cant people just let me enjoy this peace and quiet? I groaned as pushed the covers off of me. I was still nestled between Heero and Quatre. Trowa was stretched out across the foot of the bed and Wufei somehow managed to stretch out across the head of the bed. My guess is that people moved me down in my sleep.

I sighed as I sat up. "Fine, fine, just let me get dressed."

Quatre smiled at me as he nodded. The guys slipped out of bed and left me alone to get dressed.

I winced as I caught sight of my bare torso in a mirror. There were old scars all over my back. Those had been there from when I was a child so they were very faint. I'm willing to bet I'm the only one that even noticed them anymore. There were stitches littered all over my chest and stomach. There was one line of stitches that went from the back of my neck, over my collarbone and ended in the middle of my sternum. Why did they cut into me so much? I looked like Frankenstein's Monster. What was the point? None of the stitches looked like they were over vital areas.

I slipped on a plain black T-shirt. It was a little baggy on me, but hey, I wasn't up to wearing a tight shirt right now. I slipped on a pair of grey sweat pants. I definitely don't feel like dressing up.

I took one more look at myself in the mirror. I didn't even bother braiding my hair. I noted that it was still straight and not tangled. Did someone brush it while I slept? I'll have to ask later.

I slipped out of my bedroom and sighed at the sight before me. Victoria was there with Johann talking with Wufei and Quatre. I remained quiet as I waited for them to notice me.

That didn't take long. "I see Mr. Maxwell is awake."

I winced a little as Victoria pulled away from the group and headed towards me. She stopped a few feel in front of me and smiled. "I would like to get started right away Mr. Maxwell. This is going to take awhile. Mr. Winner has set aside a room for my use. I promise there will be no pain."

I hope she was right. I had to stop myself from bolting back into my bedroom and locking the door. Not that it would do any good. I know for a fact that doors don't stop her.

Heero pulled me a reassuring hug as I passed him as I followed Victoria. That made me feel a little better.

**XXX**

I lay down on the cot provided for this and closed my eyes. I tried not to whimper as I felt my flesh part for her hands. I could feel the air hit things it shouldn't have.

When she got done with one set of stitches, she would move on to the next. I winced every time she pulled out the medical floss used to sew me back up.

The very last area that she tackled was the stitches around my neck. "Alright Mr. Maxwell. Almost done. I just need you to lay on your side while I examine this one as well."

I rolled on to my side and winced as I felt her fingers prod around my neck. Air should not be hitting vertebrae and the surrounding muscle tissue. That has got to be the most unsettling thing I have ever felt, and slightly painful.

I whimpered as I felt her pull something out of my flesh with a resounding pop.

"Hm… Interesting."

"Yeah well, faun over it later, put me back together. This is painful." I stated as I stared a head at the wall.

"Patience Mr. Maxwell. I'm just about done."

A few more minutes later and I was pulling my shirt back on and stitches free. Okay so I have to admit, that flesh thing she does is pretty handy.

Victoria gave me a glance and paused. In her hands was some sort of round object. She had been cleaning it and her hands off. "Mr. Maxwell, you're still human correct?"

I gave her a puzzled look. "Yeah? No one bit me or fed me if that's what you mean."

"Then care to explain something to me? Your aura has changed. It has the appearance of someone that has committed diablerie."

Okay that threw me off. "Err… Not a clue?"

"I see."

**XXXXX**

You know, if I never have to see this damned place again it will be too soon. Yeah, we were back at the Tremere's hide out. I was surprised to find out that it was just an old house set back in the woods. It looked a lot bigger from the inside.

"Mr. Maxwell, if you would be so kind, please lead the way."

Yeah Johann was with us. Victoria had handed whatever it was she found over to him and opted to stay behind as we headed back to this hellhole. I don't want to be here. I want to be anywhere but here.

I grumbled as I entered the place. Okay so there was a front door. Why the hell couldn't I find it the last time? That would have made things so much easier.

I felt Deathscythe stir as we passed the thresh hold. She had been quiet since my rescue. I don't know why. She felt like she was waking up. I wandered through the house with the others in tow. Where were the missing doorway and maze like hallways? This place looked positively average now.

It doesn't take me long to find the library. I watch as they started to go through the books. Johann was taking titles off the shelf and putting them in a bag he had brought with him. I made my way over to the desk I had hid under the last time I was here. The book was still on the desktop and opened to the page about 'Mortis Spiritis'. Deathscythe's real name.

I closed the book and picked it up. I held it as I waited for the others to get done. I looked around curiously. Trowa and Heero were missing. Where were they?

'The lab.'

I nodded absently as I headed out the door and down the hall towards the lab that was my prison at one point.

I found them poking around the destroyed lab. The place had been ransacked and cleared out. We didn't do that. I shook my head and decided to take a closer look. My eyes were drawn to the glass cases near where my braid had been held. The monkey's paw and mummy's hand were missing. It looks like whoever took them had the keys.

"Hey guys, during the fight, did you see two vamps that looked like opposites? One had white messy hair with gold eyes and the other had black messy hair with blue eyes."

Heero and Trowa exchanged glances. "No Duo, none of the dead matched that description."

Shit. If what Tro said was true then Night and Moon were still alive somewhere. I didn't like that idea. I really don't like that idea.

"Well shit. Then they escaped."

Heero gave me a worried look. "Who escaped?"

"My captors. Night and Moon."

Tro and Heero exchanged looks again. Yeah, they were as worried as I was. It looks like my nightmare wasn't over yet.

**XXXX**

"We gained quite a bit of data from that specimen."

"Did you expect anything less Mr. Moon?"

"No of course not Mr. Night. "

"However, our cover has now been blown."

"Very true. The Tremere council will be sending in someone to investigate."

"No doubt about that. They would be most adamant about finding the two they missed in Mexico City."

"So true Mr. Moon. We better lay low for a while."

"Yes, of course."

The two men silently slipped out of Cloud Nine as they watched Duo and his entourage returned from going over their old chantry. Both men knew what they would find the book, various tomes on the occult and one or two abandoned experiments. That was it. They took everything else of value with them. Now it was just a waiting game for them.

**XXXXX**

"Great, now what." I grumbled as I paced my room. Yeah, we finished raiding the hellhole. Johann found who knows what in that library but other than books, that's it. We found nothing else. Just books. Someone really cleaned out the place before we got there. I was worried.

"Now we wait Duo, there's no avoiding it."

I glanced at Quatre and grumbled. I hate waiting. I seriously hate waiting. It usually meant that the bad guys have time to come up with something scarier than what they have in the first place. I hate it when they do that.

"Can't we just get whoever the hell is in charge of the Tremere to had over the assholes?"

There was a pause. "I wish."

Quat almost sounded wishful. Damn. "Why not?"

"Because according to clan Tremere, they don't exist."

Huh? What the hell? "What the hell do you mean they don't exist? I had stitches stating they do."

"I know Duo, but according to the nearest Tremere Chantry, they don't exist."

Pause. "What the fuck?"

Q-ball shrugged "They're sending an official representative to come and figure this out."

Great, just what I need, more annoying blood-drinking mages. Save me now.


End file.
